A Wooden Jacket for Armless John
by WriterKos
Summary: A marine is murdered, and their only eyewitness left the country. Gibbs sends Tony and Tim after her, but will they survive the food, the bureaucracy, the corrupt cops and the thieves on their trip? Written for the Weekly Writing Challenge 40.
1. A Captain Hits his Boots

**_Title: A wooden jacket for Armless John._**  
_Author: WriterKos_  
_WWC #: 40_  
_Rating: FR18_  
_Parings: McGee/OC_  
_Characters: McGee, DiNozzo, OC, with homeophatic doses of the rest of the team._  
_Genres: Romance, CaseFic, Humor_  
_Warnings: It can happen anytime on season seven._  
_Summary: A marine is murdered, and their only eyewitness left the country. Gibbs sends Tony and Tim after her, but will they survive the food, the bureaucracy, the corrupt cops and the thieves on their trip? Written for the Weekly Writing Challenge 40. _

a/n #1: No poor foreigners were harmed during the writing of this fic. The events narrated here are based in true facts, not fiction, but the names and the situations were changed. Brazil is an amazing place, but we, Brazilians, are not blind to it's faults and problems. Hope you have fun.

a/n #2: No, I do not live in Rio.

**Chapter 1: A Captain Just Hit His Boots…**

**_Portuguese idiom: Bater as botas_**  
**_Literal translation: to hit the boots_**  
**_Meaning: to die._**

**_Somewhere in Georgetown_**  
**_Washington DC_**  
**_Thursday 3:21 am_**

If there was one thing that you can be sure is that, regardless of where you are in the world, the skies will always be the same. The stars on the deep dark cloth stretched out over us may vary, but the sun will always rise on the East and set on the West, and the moon, in clear autumn nights like this, will be shining its pale light over us, bringing a special beauty to the buildings and people who dwell under its nightly kingdom.

The light wind that announces the upcoming winter makes me shiver, and I point my Canon 450D to the sky again and smile at the moon, and try to capture its beauty and magic with my zoom lenses. Looking through them, I see the moon's seas and rocky formations, and deeply envy those who dared to dream to touch its soil, and those that toiled day and night and were brave enough – or insane enough – to achieve their goal.

In nights like this, it's easy to understand why pagan religions frequently worshiped the full moon, before the advent of monotheism and the all-seeing, all-powerful God.

Those that had only nature as a representation of the powers of the Gods above could easily be fascinated by the beauty shining down on me, bathing my sun-kissed skin with a ghostly night.

I lower my camera, and regret that this is my last night here, and I really wish that I could stay, and be able to witness the beauty of the moon from here, from America, but family and other commitments demand my return. My holidays are over, so I say goodbye to DC with my lenses, and feel the music of the night silently whispering its goodbye to me.

As I silently greet the moon, I hear the murmur of voices in the alley besides the roof where I'm laying on a blanket. At first I ignore the voices, as they only disturb my communion with the night. My camera silently registers the beauty before me in several shots, and I feel a pang to know that, unfortunately, I have no one to share the beauty of it with me.

The voices get louder, and I leave my warm nest to see who dares spoil my goodbye shots. I go to the edge of the roof, and look down to the small alley behind my friend's apartment building. Even though I started one month backpacking trip staying in hostels and, later on, in fellow couchsurfer's houses, a good friend of mine offered his place for me to crash before my flight tomorrow, as he would be staying with his boyfriend in Maryland.

As I was never a person to deny a freely given gift, I promptly accepted it, and had truly enjoyed my stay in his small flat in Georgetown for the last three days. But why these guys were arguing in this alley? I simply sit down near the ledge, between the shadows, and see two men. A shiver runs through my body, as I see their argument escalating, so I simply hide behind a stone gargoyle smiling ironically towards the night, point my camera, and start taking pictures.

I had no idea how that action would change my life forever.


	2. The Captain Put The Wooden Jacket On

_**Chapter 2: The Captain Put The Wooden Jacket On**_

**_Portuguese idiom: Vestir o paleto de madeira_**  
**_Literal translation: To button up the wooden jacket._**  
**_Meaning: to die. To be put into a coffin._**

**_Still in Georgetown_**  
**_Washington DC_**  
**_Thrusday 7:34 am_**

"Jethro, what do we have here?" says Ducky, as he approaches Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, head of the MCR team from NCIS. He was staring down at the body sprawled on the floor, with three bullet holes close to each other in the chest.

"Dead marine," he turns to his team, "DiNozzo, sketch, McGee, pictures, and check if those surveillance cameras over there were working at the time of the murder," Gibbs points to cameras turned to the backdoor of the bar, "Ziva, witness statements, check if someone in these buildings have seen or heard something."

"On it, Boss." They say, and run to obey his orders.

Ducky is checking the liver temperature, and Palmer silently approaches with a body bag and the stretcher.

"What can you tell me, Duck?"

"Well," Ducky checks the readings, "this gentleman was killed between two and five am this morning, and based on the blood on the scene and its position," he shows the blood pools and the splatter on the wall, "I would say that this is our primary crime scene. He was, indeed, killed here, and not moved from where he fell as he was shot."

McGee approaches Gibbs, and gives his report.

"Boss, the bar owner told me that they have surveillance twenty-four hours a day since they were robbed three times last semester alone. He will separate the tapes from yesterday so we can check it in NCIS."

"Good."

Ziva finishes taking the statements and approaches Gibbs, who stares at her, waiting for her to talk.

"According to the building manager, there were only six of the sixteen people currently living here. As eight are away on holidays and two out of the country.

"The ones who were in the building, any one hear or see anything?"

"He's helping me track them down the two who left for work early in the morning. Two retired couples were in the building, but they can barely hear each other, much less whatever happens outside their apartments. But, we have a small mystery here, as he told me that early this morning a woman left with suitcases, and he didn't recognize her as one of the tenants."

"He didn't?"

"Nope. And he saw her coming and going the last three days. And as far as he knows, no one moved in or out of the building."

Gibbs frowns at this information, as it's too much of a coincidence. "According to the 911 records, a woman reported the shooting, just a couple of minutes after it happened."

"Could be her."

"Yeah, try to find out what you can about her."

"On it, Gibbs."

McGee approaches with some DVDs on his hand. They are the recordings of the surveillance cameras. They return to NCIS, and McGee takes the videos to be checked by Abby.

As they watch the video, they see a man walking alone down the alley, meeting and talking to someone who stays out of the camera view. After some minutes, the conversation becomes aggressive, and the person in the shadows draws a weapon to the captain.

They see him being shot and falling to the floor.

The shooter leaves the scene, always with his face hidden and with his back to the camera.

However, their biggest surprise is when, not even five minutes after the shots rang out, a woman enters the alley, and runs to the fallen marine. She checks if he has a pulse, opens her backpack and starts dialing something on her cell phone.

They check the timestamp of the video with the actual 911 recording. The times match. They watch her stay for some minutes on the alley. She verifies that he's already dead, and leaves, before the man is found by the paramedics.

As it is a digital video, they can zoom in on her face which can clearly be seen in the moonlit night. She had never tried to avoid the camera. She probably had no idea that there were surveillance cameras in the alley anyway.

The team watches the tape several times in loop, trying to catch anything that might identify her.

"She doesn't seem to be American," says McGee.

"Of course she doesn't, look at those eyes, that hair, that skin, those boobs," Gibbs turns to stare at Tony, who continues, "she's not American, she's Latina. Which basically means we're screwed."

McGee frowns, as he doesn't get why Tony is complaining.

"Why?"

"Why? You ask me why? If she's an illegal immigrant we won't ever find her. She will disappear in whatever hole she came from."

"I don't think she's an illegal immigrant," says Ziva staring at the plasma. "McGee, zoom in her backpack."

"Her backpack?"

McGee goes to his desktop and types something, zooming the image into the requested spot. They rewind the video to see the stranger in the video opening her backpack to get the mobile phone, and in it they can clearly see a book with its shiny cover upside down. The colored strap of a top of the line digital camera can be seen as well.

"Can you zoom in again?"

McGee types a little bit more, and Ziva squints at the plasma.

"Is that what I think it is?"

McGee smiles, "Yes, it is," he stands up, and looks at the clear view of the backpack contents, "that's the Frommer's edition of '_How to Travel America' with only 40 dollars a day'_."

He looks at Gibbs.

"She's a tourist," says Gibbs.

"A tourist with a very tight budget," completes Tony.

"Not really, look at the strap of her camera," she points out, "that's the strap of a Canon EOS, like the ones we have here." Ziva shakes her head, "whoever she is, she had the money to buy the camera."

"Boss, the backpack, the guide, the top of the line digital camera, all fits to the idea of her being a tourist."

"A tourist who walked into a murder, reported it and now disappeared," growls Gibbs, "Ziva!"

"I'm contacting the airports, checking if their database immigration records have someone that matches our video."

"McGee!"

"I will run her picture in the INS database. And she touched his neck to check for his pulse, maybe Ducky was able to collect a viable print."

"Tony!"

"I'll go back to the building with her picture, show it up to the landlord to see if she matches the mysterious woman who left this morning."

Tony rushes to the printer, to get the picture.

"We have to find her," Gibbs says staring at the plasma.

"Before someone else does," says Ziva, while dialing on the phone.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Found her!" shouts McGee, and Gibbs, Tony and Ziva look at him.

"Put it in the plasma," says Gibbs, standing up.

McGee types something, and the scanned image of a Brazilian passport appears. In it, a mocha skinned woman, in her late twenties, looks seriously at the camera. Her long dark brown hair was flowing in curls around her oval face, and deep brown almond eyes looked unblinking out of the picture. She also had a very generous mouth, with lips faintly colored in a coral lipstick that matched her bronze color. Green pendant earrings and a single pearl necklace completed the ensemble.

"Anna Julia Rodrigues, twenty eight, she entered the country through an Copa Airlines Rio-Miami flight four weeks ago, and according to her Credit Card movements she had traveled between Miami, Orlando, New York, Las Vegas, and then finally here in DC."

"What else can you tell us about her?" asks Tony.

"She informed the immigration officer that she was doing a backpacking trip with some friends, and that she would be flying home from DC."

"When?" asks Gibbs, looking at the plasma, studying his witness.

McGee frowns at the information the he's reading on the screen, "according to the immigration info I've just received, she was listed in the passenger manifest of the Copa Airlines flight that left DC five hours ago." He looks at Gibbs, "she's already out of American airspace, Boss."

Gibbs stares at the screen, "Ziva, keep looking in Captain John Davis background, I want to know everything about him, who he spoke to, who he slept with, everything."

"McGee, DiNozzo, pack your bags, you're going to Brazil."

"Boss? Wow, samba, beautiful girls, bossa nova, this is going to be great!" celebrates DiNozzo doing a little dance, and he promptly receives a headslap.

"OUCH."

"You are going there to find her, and if possible, bring her back here, not to be a tourist, DiNozzo," growls Gibbs.

"Because you can be sure of one thing," Gibbs looks at the plasma, "if we are able to find out who she is so easily, whoever killed Captain Davis will too, and we have to find her before they do."


	3. Meeting Armless John

**Chapter 3 : Meeting Armless John**

**_Portuguese idiom: João sem braço_**  
**_Literal translation: Armless John_**  
**_Meaning: Someone who is lazy, who pretends not to understand things, unwilling to work._**

**_Washington DC_**  
**_Thursday, 3:45 pm_**

However, despite the speed with which they packed their bags, McGee and DiNozzo had yet to face their first contact with Brazilian Bureaucracy.

As any American citizen, they needed visas to travel to Brazil. They handed in their passports to HR to provide their visas, however they were informed that, even paying the emergency fee for an express service, their visas would be ready only in five days, on Monday.

"Five days? We're in the middle of a murder investigation. We have to travel to South America today!"

"I'm sorry, Agent DiNozzo, but due to the Brazilian holidays calendar, the consulate is closed off today, Thursday. We will only be able to hand in your documentation at the Embassy tomorrow, Friday, and, even with the emergency fee being paid, they will only give us the passports back on Monday."

"Can't you contact anyone in the Embassy, to try to speed up the process?"

"I'm sorry," says the HR analyst, "as I told you, they are closed off today."

So, McGee and Tony stayed, simmering, and following other leads until Monday.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

_**Monday evening, on the way to Rio.**_

As soon as they got their passports back, they rushed to the airport and boarded the evening flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

They saw several business men, families with children and ordinary people talking in a soft cadent language, which to their untrained ears sounded strangely close to Spanish, but if you really tried to hear it, you would notice that it was completely different.

"Welcome to the American Airlines Flight to Rio de Janeiro, with a stopover in Sao Paolo," says the flight attendant, as she proceeds to give the security instructions.

Tony can barely hide his glee, "We're going to Brazil!"

McGee just smirks to his enthusiasm, and sits back on the seat. He fidgets a little, as the economic seats are very uncomfortable for his over six foot frame. He glances to the middle seats, where a Brazilian woman, with mocha colored skin, holds her baby girl in her arms, soothing her for takeoff. She feels his eyes on her, and she promptly smiles at him.

The flight is uneventful, as long as you ignore the echoes of children crying and the several bathroom breaks both had to take, after drinking too much coke and water during their meals.

As they approach the first and only stopover, the people start getting antsy. There is a small symphony of people opening and shutting their overhead compartments, as they need their passports, pens and documents to fill out the mandatory entry cards to the country.

People also make lines to the bathroom, as they want to freshen up before landing.

They make a small stop in Sao Paulo, and almost sixty percent of the people on the plane leave. The rest will continue until their final destination: Rio de Janeiro.

After a short flight – it is only forty five minutes from Sao Paulo to Rio – they finally arrive in the Rio, internationally known as _The Wonderful City_.

They fly over a huge urban spot, extending several miles, as the plane starts its landing procedure. They see the huge figure of the Christ hovering over the Rio, and several slumhouses, known as favelas, covering the hills of the city.

McGee frowns, as apparently the airplane's trajectory is taking them directly to the water of Guanabara bay.

"Tony," he says, staring at the video of the nose of the airplane, shown on his small plasma screen in front of his chair of the Boeing 777.

"What, McFear?"

"He's going to try to land in the water."

Tony fidgets with his remote control and looks at the flight plan. He laughs at his friend's concern.

"Nah, both major airports in Rio de Janeiro are close to the sea." Tony opens his travel guide about Rio, and shows him a map of the city. Indeed, both airports were close to the bay.

They were surrounded by the waters of the bay.

The tarmac practically ended in the water.

McGee gulps, terrified, and looks again at the plasma screen. The airplane starts shaking, due to turbulence.

McGee pales, and his fingers sink like claws in the armrests.

Houses.

Houses.

Houses.

Land.

Water.

Water.

Water.

WATER.

Water.

Water.

Water.

WATER.

The airplane touches down Santos Dumont Airport, and immediately they feel the inertia throwing them against their seatbelts as the pilot starts to reverse the engines.

Tony smiles, as most people in the airplane start clapping their hands to thank the pilot for the good landing. He looks to his teammate, whose eyes are firmly shut. He taps his hand.

"Hey McTerrified, we're safely on land. I told you it was no big deal."

"Tell me why, why would they build an airport than ends in water?" hisses McGee, as he opens his eyes and looks to the window. Just some feet away from the runway, he can see the waters from Guanabara Bay.

Tony just laughs at his partner's terror.

They grab their bags and slowly go through the immigration lines. Even though it's November, it is stifling hot, as the summer is just beginning. The faint smell of sweat is trapped in the temperature controlled areas of the airport, and the travel-tired passengers slowly drag their hand luggage to the checkpoint.

They arrive to the immigration booth, and they identify themselves as federal agents and request to speak to the Federal Police officers on duty in the airport, as they plan to ask for help from the Policia Federal to locate their missing witness.

A surly looking agent takes them to the Brazilian Federal Police office inside the airport, and both agents sit down until the Delegado in charge comes to talk to them.

They wait.

They wait a little bit more.

They wait more and more.

Finally, three hours after they landed, a robust man, with a goatee and dark brown eyes and hair comes to their direction, and shakes firmly their hands.

"Hello, I'm Marcio da Silva, I'm the Officer in charge here." He says in good English and smiles, but his keen eyes studies the two gringos with a slight degree of mistrust.

"Hi, my name is Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo and this is my colleague, Special Agent Timothy McGee. We are from NCIS."

"NCIS? Never heard of it."

McGee smiles thinly, "It stands for Naval Criminal Investigation Services. We investigate crimes related to the Navy."

Da Silva smiles brighter, and nods repeatedly, "Ahhh Navy cops, Navy cops from America. How can we help you?"

"We need your assistance to locate a person."

"Are you hunting one of your criminals here? Because I haven't been informed of any operation of yours. Usually we're told when you guys come to our jurisdiction," he says as he looks at the passport scan McGee hands to him.

"No, she's not a criminal. She's a witness in a murder investigation."

"And do you have any information on her?"

"Just her name and passport number. She hasn't stayed in any big hotels while in US and we have no forwarding address."

Delegado Da Silva scratches his head, and looks at the gringo feds.

"Good luck in finding her, we have more than six million people living in this city alone, twelve million if you count the Big Rio, you will need all the luck in the world to find her."

Tony and McGee look at each other, and frown at this information. They expected more cooperation from the local authorities.

"Don't you have a database that we could use to track her? We have her name, we have her passport number."

"Is she a criminal? Is she booked?"

"As far as we know, no. She just witnessed a murder. She needs protection."

Da Silva shakes his head, and returns the picture to the _gringo _feds.

"We can't find her then. If she was in the system, maybe, but no…" He shrugs, as there's nothing he can do to help. Da Silva fidgets on his chair a little, a frown of concentration on his face.

"Do you know her CPF number?"

"CPF number?" Tim asks, confused.

"Yes, it's her tax registry number in Brazil, we could try to access her tax revenue with it, and try to check her address."

"No, we don't."

"So, forget it."

McGee stands up, and grabs his bag and his backpack. Tony also gets ready to leave, as they see they won't receive any cooperation from his side.

"Thanks for nothing," says McGee.


	4. A barber driver from the hill

_**Chapter Four: Meeting a barber driver from the hill**__  
_

_**Portuguese expression: motorista barbeiro**_  
_**Literal translation: Barber Driver**_  
_**Meaning: Someone who drives really badly.**_

_**Rio de Janeiro**_  
_**Tuesday, 09:50 am**_

They leave the airport, and signal for a taxi to take them to their hotel in Copacabana.

They are disheartened by the unwillingness to help of the Federal officer. However, as they don't have a searchable database for the general population, they can't really help them.

A yellow taxi stops before them, and they put their bags in the trunk, keeping their backpacks with them, as their passports, mobile phones and laptop are in them. They have to report to Gibbs that they had safely arrived as soon as they get to the hotel.

_"Pra onde, cumpadi?"(Where to, my friend?) _

The taxi driver asks, and receives just confused looks.

Tony immediately opens his phrase book, and starts looking for the appropriate page.

_"We.. ahh … Eu… nao falar portuguesssss." _

Tony tries with difficulty to explain their situation._ We don't speak Portuguese._

_"Ah, cês são gringos!" (You are Americans!) _the taxi driver smile gets bigger.

_"Sem crise, brother. Tá comigo, tá com Deus." (No problem, brother. __If you are with me, you are with God himself)._

He drives off, turns the radio on, and loud Brazilian music starts pumping in the car. He slowly edges the car in the morning traffic, and Tony and Tim just look confused at each other.

Tim takes his travel info from his backpack, and shows the hotel voucher to the driver.

"We're staying in Copacabana Palace Hotel." He points to the printed map, and the driver barely glances it.

_"Cês tão no Palace, perfeito, brother." (You are in the Palace. Perfect, brother.) _

He keeps on driving, and Tim feels confused, as he doesn't know if the driver understood the directions. He smiles at the way the driver says the English word, as if there is a long o in it. _Brooooooooodissssss. _

They look at the people on the streets, dressed in summer clothing. Some people, who look like office workers, are in suits and formal wear, but under the sun even the men are forced to take the suit off and hold it folded in their arms, leaving only the starched white shirts on.

The taxi driver zigzags in the traffic, and several people play their horns of the cars at him.

The driver sees an opening in between two cars, and speeds up as the stop light is turning yellow. He rushes past the crossroad, receiving insults and more horns at him.

_"Oh motorista barbeiro, vai aprender a dirigir!" (lazy driver, you gotta learn how to drive!)  
_  
Someone shouts at the driver, apparently cursing him, and he curses back fluently and colorfully, waving his hand out of the window.

He takes a turn, leaves the avenue and starts driving to the city, up a hill. Tony has his nose in his travel book, and was listing the sights he wants to see.

"I want to see the Christ and the Ipanema beach. McGoo, we have to see the Copacabana girls, they're beautiful, and …" he goes on and on, but McGee is tense. He feels the eyes of the taxi driver on them, observing them by the rearview mirror.

Always watching them with that annoying smile on his face.

Suddenly he stops the car. McGee looks around, and they are in an empty street in one of the poor communities of the city. There is a bar in the corner of the block, and three very muscular men start walking towards the taxi.

"Tony."

"We could go paragliding. Have you ever gone paragliding?"

"Tony!"

Tony looks up, "what?"

"We're about to have company."

The taxi driver unlocks the doors, and both backseat doors are opened by the street thugs. They are wearing old ratty jeans and a Brazilian football team jersey, in black and red strips.

_"Vai saindo, vai saindo ai, mane." (Get out, Get out.)_

They grab both Tim and Tony's arms and drag them out of the car.

_"Tá me zoando, passa a grana, passa grana." (Give me your money.)_

Tim and Tony lift their arms in surrender. They read about the violence in the city, and according to the travel tips they received, trying to resist is not an option. They might be slaughtered by the slightest provocation.

Two men pat them down, take their wallets, money, passports. The third go through their backpacks and smile when he sees the laptop.

"Can't we talk about this?" Tony tries to negotiate with a smile, but his thug simply punches him in the stomach. He falls on his knees, and winces in pain.

"I don't think so." He whispers, wheezing.

The other man find Tim's service weapon, and draw it very quickly. Tim immediately tenses up, and keeps his hands on his head.

"Listen that's very dangerous. That's my gun."

_"Eles são policia, mano!" (They are cops, brother)_ says the one going through their backpack, as he shows them the NCIS badge he found in the backpack.

The man with the gun starts shouting at him, with Tim's gun pointed to his chest.

_"Cês são policia, e veio pro morro. Cês qué morrer?" __(you are cops and you came to our hill, do you wanna die?) _

He shoves Tim against the wall and touches the gun to Tim's chest, who gulps and still keeps his hands behind his head.

"We're not here for you," he says at his attacker. He stares at the man and even though he's terrified that he will lose his life, he doesn't back down and doesn't look away. "We're not here for you." He repeats again.

Shots are heard some blocks away, and their attackers retreat. The one who took Tim's gun smiles, salutes him, and says before entering the taxi.

_"Deus te salvou hoje, gringo, mas da próxima te mato." __(God saved you today, but next time, gringo, I'll kill you.) _

He hops in the taxi with his colleagues in the robbery.

The taxi leaves in a hurry, leaving burn rubber marks on the asphalt. Their bags, their backpacks, their passports and even Tim's service weapon are gone. For some small miracle, they didn't find Tony's service weapon, neither the secondary weapon he also carries attached to his leg.

Tim supports himself against the wall, and slowly slides to the floor. Tony looks at him, and sees that his normally pallid skin is almost white, such was the scare he had.

He winces as he touches his abdomen. "you ok, man?"

"We could have died."

Tony slowly moves himself and sits besides Tim on the floor.

"Yes, we could."

"He had his finger in the trigger of my weapon, he was this close to pulling the trigger."

Tim leans his head between his knees, and takes deep breaths trying to control his panic. He puts his hands on his head, and feels his whole body shaking.

As the bandits leave, people start leaving their hiding places. Among them, a woman in a very tight bun, her face sunburned by many days working under the sun, in a white starched shirt and long flowered skirt approaches the two robbery victims.

Tony looks at her, and he's cautious of her approach. She smiles at them, and raises her hands in sign of surrender. She wants them to know that she's not armed, she whishes them no harm.

_"Vocês estão bem?" (Are you ok?)_

Tony looks at Tim, whose head is still between his legs.

"I'm sorry, we don't speak Portuguese. And they even stole my phrase book." Tony slaps is thigh, frustrated.

She smiles again and nods. She turns to the other people approaching the two gringos sitting on the floor.

_"Chama o Chiquinho, eles não falam Portugues." (Call Chiquinho. They don't speak Portuguese.)_

She approaches them, and offers her hand to help them stand up. Tim lifts his head from between knees and looks at the woman, with her kind smile and eyes offering to help them. He glances briefly to Tony, takes her hand and slowly stands up on unsteady legs.

People surround them, and the lady puts his arm on top of her own and slowly leads them to her house just around the corner.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Maria do Carmo Ferreira has seen many things in her long life in the hill. She married in the hill with her school sweetheart, and gave him two fine sons and a daughter. Unfortunately, the kings of the hill had stolen her boys, using them as rocket soldiers to warn them of the arrival of the cops. They were murdered in the shootout between the drug dealers and the police two years ago.

She was able to save her daughter, as she had studied to become veterinarian and now lived in the Belo Horizonte. Away from the hill and away from the danger from the streets of Rio.

She was putting her freshly washed clothes on top of her small house when she saw Marco, that silly taxi driver who worked for the kings of the hill, bringing two unsuspecting victims for the thugs to clean up their money and things.

She observed frightened when Tonhão said that they were cops, and the pale man was shoved against the wall and almost killed.

She prayed desperately for God to save them, and He heard her petition. Tonhão and his thugs entered Marco's taxi and left. The poor gringo could barely keep standing, such was his terror, and his friend had been introduced to one of the laws of the hill. _You don't speak until given permission. _

As soon as bandits left, she rushed to the street to attend the poor boys. When she approaches them, her mother's heart constricts as she can see they seem to be good boys.

They are someone else's children. If they lost their lives here, their mothers would feel the same pain she went through.

The pale man who almost was shot looks at her with his gorgeous green eyes, and she can't help her smile. She wants to help them, but she's unsure if they will be willing to accept her help.

She offers her hand, and the man takes it with shaking hands. His simple trust on her reminds her of her own sons, when they still heard her warnings and were only boys, not bandits. She tucks his arm on the fold of her arm, and guides them to her home, for a temporary haven.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Tim and Tony are taken to a simple house down the street. The apparent bricks from outside and the lack of an organized project show that the house was built not by an engineer, but by the very own hands of their inhabitants.

Once they enter, they are surprised by the cleanliness of the place. The woman guides them to an old but clean sofa, covered with delicate flowered cloth. The walls were white, and some pictures of her family were hanging beside a mirror. In an important place in the wall, close to the old TV in the corner, is a picture of Our Lady, showing that they were in a Catholic home.

She rushed to the kitchen, and while she prepared something to offer her visitors her neighbors studied the gringos with curiosity. Tony smiles thinly and waves at them, and several children smile and wave back enthusiastically.

A skinny man with glasses arrives and kicks everyone out. His jeans are dark blue, his tennis shoes are not top of the line, but seem to be clean and new and his shirt is cerulean blue.  
_  
__"Que que tá acontecendo aqui? … festa é? Vai trabalhar, cambada de vagabundo vai vai." __(What's happening here? Is this a party? Go back to work, lazy people.)  
_  
The people disperse, but a small boy with a soccer ball in his hand still waves back to Tony and Tim before he rushes up the hill.

He turns to the two foreigners who are looking at him with distrust. Their clothing and shoes indicate that they are from money, and they probably were taken directly from the airport.

"Hi, I'm Francisco, but everyone calls me Chiquinho," he says in a heavily accented voice.

The two foreigners look at each other, and sigh relieved that they've met someone who speaks their language.

"Hi, I'm Tony, he's Tim," says Tony, looking with mistrust at the gangly man. He sees him taking one of the simple wooden chairs and bringing it close to them, so he can seat before them.

"Rio is a very dangerous place, like a jungle. You were just introduced to some of its predators," says Chiquinho, as he takes his glasses from his face and tries to clean them on his shirt. He lifts it against the light, and still sees some marks on it. He rubs it against his shirt again.

The smiling woman who saved and sheltered them comes back from the kitchen, holding a tray with a coffee carafe and some delicate china cups. She says something in Portuguese, which brings a smile to the gangly man.

"Come, Dona Maria will serve us coffee, then we'll talk."

She waves at them, indicating that they should sit on her table. Both foreigners sit and she immediately puts a cup before them, and pours fragrant black coffee before the dead tired agents. They breathe in deeply, and their tummies make themselves known, growling, as they hadn't eaten anything but the small croissant given as breakfast on the airplane before they landed.

She smiles, and says something they don't understand. She looks at Chiquinho waiting for him to translate.

"She asked if you are hungry." He says as he sips his black coffee delighted.

"The last time we ate was in on the airplane, but we don't want to be a bother," says Tim, waving his hand to show that he was fine.

Chiquinho translates what he said, and Dona Maria starts speaking rapid Portuguese, waving her hands energetically. She smiles at her two guests, and rushes to the kitchen. Tim and Tony look at each other, then at Chiquinho. They hear the noise of cupboard doors being opened and closed repeatedly.

"What did she say?"

"She said no visitors in her house will leave with an empty belly. She will serve you something to eat."

"Oh, no no, no need," Tim stands up and Dona Maria comes back from the kitchen with several jam pots on a tray, butter and margarine. She smiles at the blond man, and she motions that he should sit down again. She rushes to the kitchen and they hear the noise of the microwave for one minute. She comes back to the living room with two different types of cakes, and a loaf of heated homemade bread, which permeated the house with its delicious aroma.

Both Americans salivate, and Dona Maria puts two plates before them, and cuts generous pieces of the cakes and puts one piece in each plate. She later on cuts a generous piece of the homemade bread, and puts a generous portion of butter on it, which immediately melts on the warm dough, and puts in Tim's plate. She repeats the procedure, and puts it on Tony's plate.

They attack the food as a pack of hungry wolves, and moan delighted at the delicate taste of soft bread, just enhanced by the soft melting butter on it.

"That's sooo good," moans Tony, between bites. Chiquinho smiles and turns to translate to Dona Maria, but she waves him away. Their delighted faces while eating is enough for her to understand.

Tim finishes his bread in huge bites, licks his lips, and makes a sign of ok with his hand, smiling to Dona Maria. She points to herself, and says something in Portuguese. Then she points to the bread and herself again.

"You made this bread?" Tim turns to Chiquinho, "She's the one who made this bread?"

"Yes, she's one of the best cooks of the hill. Very good." Chiquinho cuts another piece of the bread, gets a generous portion of a brown colored paste and applies it on his bread. Dona Maria sits down, and gets the paste and shows to Tony, who is looking at the paste curious.

"What is that?"

_"Doce de leite,"_ says Maria, offering the thick paste for him to try.

_"Doooohhhhciiiiiiii diiiiil laaaaicheeee" _

He tries to imitate her, and both Chiquinho and Maria laugh at his attempt.

_"Não, não,"_ she laughs, wiping tears of mirth from her face. _"Do-ce de lei-te" _she repeats very slowly.

_"Dooohhhttiii diiii laaaicchheeeee"._

He tries again, and now even Tim joins their laughter, as Tony sounds ridiculous trying to repeat the lyrical words in Portuguese.

"Ok ok, I'll never learn Portuguese." Tony takes a knife from the table and takes a small portion of cream, and puts on another piece of bread. He smiles at Dona Maria, and tastes it. His eyes become huge, and he licks his lips trying to capture the taste.

"It's good." He eats another piece of the bread with the delicacy. He tries to describe it to McGee, "very good, it's thick and a little bit tangy, it's made of milk, I think, and coconut." He licks his finger, where some had leaked.

"Not bad, Tony," says Chiquinho, getting more of the creamy paste for his bread loaf. "It is a milk cream, very thick, which people add coconut, or chocolate or some other jam. It's very good." Dona Maria squints at him and slaps his hand, as he gets a huge spoonful of it. She says something to him, who blushes, and he puts some back in the pot and takes just a smaller portion.

Both Americans smile at the scene, as he reminds them of a child being properly chastised by a parent.

"Listen, we have to call the cops, and go to our hotel." Chiquinho stuffs the bread piece on his mouth, and nods. He chews, and when he finally eats the bread, "I don't have credit on my mobile, but Dona Maria might have." He turns to Dona Maria and speak in Portuguese, who becomes serious and nods. She leaves speaking in Portuguese, and she comes back with a wireless phone on her hand. She hands it to Tony, who murmurs his thanks in English.

"Thank you."

_"De nada."_ She answers. Tony looks at her, and repeats after her, _"De nada."_

Chiquinho shakes his head, "no no, you got it all wrong. _Thank you_ means _Obrigado_. _De nada_ means you're welcome. It's the answer."

"Ahh the answer, so I'm supposed to say _Obrigado_, and she answers _De nada,_ right?"

"Yes, this way."

He turns again to Dona Maria, and says, _"Obrrrriiiigaaaahhhduuuu."_

She smiles delighted at him, _"De nada." _

He smiles at her and looks at the phone, then at Chiquinho. "Ok, now what? Who you gonna call?"


	5. The Rest Of The Orange

_**CHAPTER FIVE: The Rest Of The Orange. All We Are Is The Rest Of The Orange…  
Portuguese expression: Bagaço da laranja  
Literal translation: The rest of the orange  
Meaning: Tired. Dead Tired. Extremely exhausted.  
**__**  
Rio de Janeiro  
Favela Morro do Careca  
Tuesday 1:20 pm  
**_  
They call the police from Dona Maria's phone, but thanks to an intervention operation in a neighbor hill, the police squad car takes three hours to come to collect the two Americans.

When it finally comes, Dona Maria had prepared an old plastic pot, and filled it with fresh fruits and with some pieces of her cakes wrapped in aluminum foil, and gave it to Tony for eating later.

"Nah, there's no need, we will soon be in our hotel." He tries to return the pot to her.

_"Não, não, pode levar, vocês vão passar fome se não levar." __(No, you can take it with you, you will be hungry if you don't take it with you.)_ She insists, and refuses to receive the pot back.

Chiquinho talks to the police officers, who are in their grey uniform, and their hands over their weapons in an alert pose.

He turns to the two Americans, "I explained to them what happened, they will take you to the police department, open a case file and take you to your hotel in Copacabana."

Tim stretches his hand and both shake hands, "thanks for your help, I don't know how we could have gone through the last hours without your assistance. Where did you learn English?"

"I worked as a private driver for an American for ten years. I learned English from him, and now I work as tourist guide here Rio."

He gets a paper, and writes down his phone number on it. "If you need a guide, just call me."

"Thank you, man," says Tony, and they shake hands too.

Tim approaches Dona Maria, who is looking at them with tears on her eyes.

"Thank you, Maria," he says, and she starts speaking very vast, moving her hands in the air. He looks confused to Chiquinho, who starts to translate.

"She says that she looks at the two of you, and she sees that you are what she wished her boys had the chance to grow up to be. But they became rocket soldiers and were killed in the war between the kings of the hill and the cops, so now all her efforts are to take care of the children of other mothers, so they won't feel the same pain she felt when she lost her boys."

Tim looks at the gentle woman who welcomed them in her home, and sees that she is silently crying.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he says, deeply moved by her story.

She simply shakes her head, and takes his hand in hers and shakes it. She says something, touches his cheek, and leaves to her home.

Tony calls Tim, and both go to the police car. Before entering, though, Tim looks up to Dona Maria, standing side by side Chiquinho, at the door of her house.

Higher up in the street, there are some kids playing soccer. One of them stops and waves at him.

He waves back, enters the car, and finally they leave the hill behind, towards the Police department.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The police car goes down the hill, driving away from the poor community they were for the last hours. They drive to the beach side, and they see that the people seem to be in better clothes, and they are driving in a richer neighborhood.

Finally, the police car stops before a Police District, and the taciturn cops signal that they have to follow them inside.

The small room is painted in a pale cream color, matching the plastic room dividers that seem to fill the great hall. The cops go to the receptionist, and speak in Portuguese pointing to the two Americans. A person from behind the counter nods as he hears their story, opens a small door and signals for them to follow him.

They follow him down a corridor to a small room in the back, it looks like an office, with an outdated computer on the table and two visitor chairs. The person keeps talking in Portuguese, while they look confused at them. The person rolls his eyes, then points to himself.

"English, no English. No no."

He points to them, "Portuguese, no, no."

Tony frowns, but he kind of gets what he's trying to say.

"You speak no English and we speak no Portuguese."

The person nods, and points to a wall clock. He says something, and points to his wristwatch.

Tim figures out the puzzle, "you want us to wait until someone who speaks English comes."

The person keeps talking and pointing to his watch and them.

"I got it, you want us to wait."

The person nods, turns and closes the door after himself.

Tony looks around, and Tim sits dejectedly in the chair, and stares at the ceiling.

"Look at the bright side, what else could possibly happen to us?"

Tim looks at Tony, cross, "you just _had_ to jinx us."

"Oh man."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They wait for two hours until Tony's stomach starts to complain again. He opens the little plastic pot, and gets one piece of cake from Dona Maria, and starts eating. He feels Tim's eyes on him, and gets another piece of cake, carefully wrapped in aluminum foil.

"Want one?"

Tim sighs, accepts the cake piece, and start munching it.

"Nice, what kind of cake is this?"

"I have no idea."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Four hours after they arrived at the Police Department, they had already eaten all cake pieces, more the bread loaves Dona Maria put into the plastic pot. They were munching on the apples when the door finally opens and a corpulent man enters, followed by a woman with a very sour face. He was dressed all in black, with a bullet proof vest over his black T-shirt. He also had tanned skin, his face clean shaved and his eyebrows were thick, framing deep black eyes staring at the two Americans.

He waves for the Americans to sit down, and the woman, in a moss green top and a black pencil skirt, stands nervously by his side as he sits on the chair behind the table.

_"Bom dia, meu nome é Capitão Nascimento e fui informado que vocês foram roubados e levados para o Morro do Careca." _

He looks at the woman who nods and starts translating, "His name is Captain Nascimento and He was informed that you were robbed and taken to the Morro do Careca."

Tony nods and sits a little bit straighter on his chair "We're Special Agents Tony DiNozzo and Timothy McGee. We're from NCIS. We arrived this morning from DC and we took the taxi from the airport, gave him our hotel address and when we least expected we were being robbed. My partner had his service weapon stolen and Navy property was taken, namely a laptop and our satellite phones."

She turns to Captain Nascimento, and translates what Tony said. The Captain frowns when finds out that they are cops, and he gets very irritated when he finds out that one weapon has been stolen from them.

"AQUELES FILHOS DE UMA P***!" (Those sons of b*****)! He shouts, and slams his fist on the table, making both Tony and Tim jump.

He stands up and starts to talk and waves his hands, and he turns to Tony and Tim and points his fingers to them, and keeps talking excitedly in Portuguese, and the translator just opens and closes her mouth, not translating what he says.

Tony and Tim look at each other, then at the translator, who grimaces as Captain Nascimento keeps cursing the bandits he has to hunt.

"In a very abridged version, he's sorry you were robbed, and he's worried about your gun being used for some other crime. He's very apologetic, but he won't be able to retrieve your property."

"Why not?" Tim looks at Captain Nascimento, who is now staring at him. He starts speaking at Captain slowly so the translator can do her job.

"There were witnesses, the neighbors even knew their names. Why can't you go there and arrest them?"

"Because, even though they are well known in the area, they are protected by the kings of the hill. If he sent a squad up the hill it would result in an open war between the cops and the kings of the hill, and he is not willing to do that just for a laptop and one single gun. He has other priorities right now."

"But that gun is registered in my name! And the laptop and the rest of the things stolen are our property! Can he do anything for us?"  
"I'm sorry, right now your laptop is probably either being eformatted or dismantled for its pieces."

Tim stares at Captain Nascimento, who rubs his short brown hair irritated.

"Who are these kings of the hill that everyone keeps talking about?"

Tony is staring at the translator, hoping for more information.

She sighs, takes her eyeglasses out of her small nose and starts to clean it nervously.

"They are the drug lords who command the lives and the death of the people in the hill. He gives them protection and rules over them, in exchange of their silence whenever they have to commit their crimes."

"And nobody does anything against them?"

The translator sighs, and glances at Captain Nascimento who is now back on his seat, staring at the Americans.

"They try, but they have heavy armament and endless supply of money from their drug deals. They live, love, kill and die in the hill. The police do some incursions on their turf, but due to the geography of the place and the rocket soldiers, they always know whenever they are coming, and respond with heavy firepower."

Tim leans forwards, thinking, "we heard this term before. Rocket soldiers."

Tony glances at Tim, and nods, "the children of the lady who helped us in the hill were killed for being that."

The translator fidgets a little, and nods, "that's not an uncommon story. The drug lords hire the children in the hill, normally boys, to warn them with fireworks whenever a cop is starting to go up the streets of the hill. That's where the name comes from. Rocket soldier. Unfortunately, these poor children are either killed by the drug lords or by the cops, or in the shootouts between both of them."

"What do we do now?" asks Tim, rubbing tiredly a hand on his face, which is starting to show a five o'clock shadow.

Captain Nascimento starts speaking, moving his hands, and pointing at them firmly, and the translator nods now and them and when he stops speaking, she translates it.

"He says that one of his men will come here to take your witness statement, you will receive copies of the report to show your hotel and also to your credit card companies. Then one of his men will take you to your hotel, so you may rest and proceed with what you came to do here in Rio. He profusely apologizes, but right now it is all he can do for you."

Tony nods, resigned to his fate, "Ok, let's do it."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Captain Nascimento shook their hands, waved and left, and another police officer entered and booted on the old computer. He turned to the two Americans, smiled, and started asking questions about their stolen property.

After the mandatory pause so the translator could do her job, they filled out the forms of the Boletim de Ocorrencia painfully slow, especially because the computer seemed ready to be recycled. The man slapped twice at the monitor when it seemed to freeze, which brought a frown to Tony's face and a grimace to Tim's.

"Maybe if you let me…" Tim starts speaking, but he shuts up when he receives a glare from the police officer.

Finally, the papers are done. The officer goes to the other room to get them from the printer, and comes back and hands them their copies. It is already signed by Captain Nascimento, and they sign on the dotted line.

"You keep the BO all times with you, until the American Embassy provides you with a new passport. You will have to show it at the hotel, so you may do your check, and also fax it to the credit card companies."

"_BO_?" Tim looks at the paper then at the translator.

"_BO_ stands for _Boletim de Ocorrencia_. It's how we call the report copy of a felony given to the victim. You have to keep it with yourself the whole time until you get your new passports."

The officer, who was watching them talk silently, finally signals to the translator and starts speaking in Portuguese. The translator nods and looks at the Americans.

"There is a police squad car waiting for you downstairs. It will take you to your hotel. Godspeed."

She stretches her hand, and both Americans stand up and shake hands with her.

"Thanks, we never even asked, what's your name?" Tim asks, ashamed at their lack of education towards a person who helped them so much.

She smiles, and they see that it transforms her face, which before they wouldn't have called it attractive.

"My name is Maria Luisa da Silva."

"Thanks Mrs. Da Silva. We met another Da Silva today. A Federal Agent in the airport. Any chance he's someone related?"

"Just Maria, please. We are not so formal here in the south. And no, Silva is a common family name here. As common as Smith in America."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

**Copacabana Palace Hotel  
Rio de Janeiro  
7h39 pm**

It is already evening when they finally arrive to their hotel. They say thanks to their police escorts, and drag their weary bodies to the reception of the hotel.

They approach the reception desk, and a smiling mullata looks them up and down, and in a very sweet accent says, "Welcome to the Copacabana Palace Hotel, how may I help you?"

Tony leans on the counter, and looks at the smiling lady, "Thank God you speak English, wanna marry me?"

She blinks, but her smile stays fixedly bolted to her lips, "how may I help you?"

Tim hits Tony on his ribs, and supports one of his hands on the counter.

"My name is Special Agent Timothy McGee, and this is my partner Agent Anthony DiNozzo, we have reservations under our names."

She nods, and starts looking their names up in the computer.

"You are booked for the beach view room. May I have your passports please?"

Tony leans his head against his right hand, his elbow resting on the counter. "Sorry, can't do."

"Ma'am, unfortunately we were robbed as soon as we stepped out of the airplane this morning. Our passports, wallets, money and clothes, they are all gone," Tim takes his copy of the BO and shows her, "we were until one hour ago in the Police reporting the crime, and only now we were able to come to our hotel."

She frowns as she reads the BO, looks at them, and smiles tensely at them, "just wait for a second, I'm going to talk to the manager."

She turns, talks to another receptionist, and goes to the backoffice after the manager.

Tony stands straighter and turns around, staring at the women in very short dresses walking down the corridor to the main door.

"Wow."

"Behave Tony."

"Excuse me, gentleman," they turn to the reception, and the previous receptionist now is standing by a white man, in a very sharp suit, who is looking at them in a serious manner.

"My name is Marco Antonio Barretos, manager from the Palace. We profusely apologize for the unfortunate events you gone through and we would like to offer you all assistance as possible during your stay. We had been contacted by the American Embassy several times during the day with inquires if you had checked in or not. In an apology offering, we're upgrading your booking to a joined penthouse suite, and one of our concierges will be at your disposal to help you to contact the American Embassy and to restock your lost property."

"Thanks, man," says Tony, shaking the manager hands enthusiastically, "you're a life saver."

"We also have to report back home, inform them what happened."

"We have a free modem and plug in point for laptop in your suite, if you need we may arrange you a laptop for your communications.

"Thanks."

The manager points to a smiling man, who bows and indicates that they have to follow him.

They go up to the sixth floor, and the concierge guides them to one of the ornate doors. He shows them the electronic key, and inserts it in the electronic lock, and opens the door for them. They enter suite and are awed. White walls, beautiful Brazilian dark wood on the floors and French designed furniture created a soft ensemble. But the crowning glory were the French balconies, overlooking miles and miles of white sand, and after that the dark blue waters of the Guanabara Bay.

"Wow, this is great!" shouts Tony, who starts immediately to explore the place.

Tim turns to thank the concierge, who shows him another key, and opens another door.

He follows him and finds himself in an identical Penthouse suite.

"Another one?"

The concierge nods, and puts the key on his hand.

"This one is mine, that one is his."

The concierge nods again, and leaves them alone.

"Wow."

"I LOVE RIO. UHUUUU" Shouts Tony from the balcony, and Tim comes to look for him. He was looking down at the avenue, and his face could barely hold his smile as he feels the warm breeze soothingly whispering on his skin.

"Come on Tony, we have to call Gibbs."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They take a shower, put on the fluffy robes and ring the concierge.

They give their dirty clothes for him to take to the laundry, and request a laptop. A couple of minutes later, he returns with a small Toshiba A100, with the promise that their clothes will be ready in two hours.

They sit down in Tony's penthouse, and plug in the laptop and ring NCIS.

"TONY!" Abby's excited face appears in the video link, and behind her they can see Ziva and Gibbs.

"Hi Abby, great to see you."

"Tell me everything, how is the wonderful city?"

Tim sighs, and glances at Tony before answering, "not so wonderful. We were robbed."

Gibbs takes a step forward, "you have been there for less than twenty four hours and you've already been robbed? How?"

Tony scratches his head, shaking his still wet hair.

"The taxi driver robbed us, instead of taking us from the airport to the hotel he took us to one of the hills, where three thugs with huge muscles beat me up and almost kill McGee."

"Oh my God, are you ok, McGee?" Abby jumps in front of the camera, trying to see him better but Gibbs keeps his hand on her shoulder and keeps staring at his agents.

"How?"

"They stole my weapon, Boss, and almost shot me when they found our badges. Everything, our clothes, passport, laptop, everything is gone."

"Why did not you react? You certainly could have overcome only three robbers," says Ziva, confused at the passivity of her teammates facing the danger.

Tim rubs his face, frustrated.

"It's not so simple, Ziva." He looks tiredly at her.

"They would have no qualms in killing us just for our things, and there were other people around, we couldn't take the chance of someone getting hurt."

Gibbs nods, "you did the right thing, your bags are not worth your life. Contact the Embassy, check how long it will take for new passports to be issued, and start looking for Ms. Rodrigues."

"About that, Boss," Tony frowns and leans towards the camera, and holds his robe closed with one hand, "we might have a problem."

"Why?"

"Because the local Feds won't help us, and they don't have a unified database which we can access to look her up," says Tim, rubbing his gritty eyes.

"Without their help, we're looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack," says Tony.

"Then start digging, Captain Davis accounts had been frozen, but not before someone hijacked them and started to transfer out funds. He had more than five million in three different accounts, and Abby is trying to figure out where the money went. Whatever it is, it's big, and this girl knows who killed him."

"Does Abby need help tracking it out? I could try to find a computer and do some digging from our side."

"Focus on trying to find our witness, you have enough in your plate right now." Gibbs pauses, and frowns before saying, "and put some clothes on, you two look ridiculous in those robes."

Tony nods, "On it, Boss."

Gibbs walks away, leaving Ziva and Abby looking at them.

"You two look like newlyweds in their honeymoon," says Ziva smirking.

Tony looks at Tim, and slides further away from him on the sofa.

"So, Captain Davis had a secret."

"Yes, we are working to find out more," says Ziva, and Abby jumps in front of them.

"Guys! Listen, someone with a camera like that would like to post her pictures somewhere, I'm doing a search in Picasa, flickr and several other picture blogs and cross referencing with her name. It may take a while, but I might find something."

"Keep us posted Abby."

"Sure Tony, and don't forget your sunscreen."

"I won't."

They disconnect, and they stand up to go to their own penthouses.

They eat a light salad and as soon as they put their head on their pillows, they are asleep.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

**Copacabana Palace Hotel  
Wednesday, 9:02 am**

The following morning, they are extremely happy to receive their now clean clothes for their very first day exploring Rio. They receive the visit of the courier of their Credit Card Company, so they now have cash and credit cards for the duration of their trip.

They go to the American Embassy to report their theft and request a new passport. They are informed that the new passport will be ready only on Monday, so it gives them a specific timeframe to do their search of their witness.

They return to the hotel, and receive the information that Abby had called. They rush to their penthouses, and immediately contact NCIS.

"Hey Abs, what have you got?"

"McGee, open your email, I've sent you some links."

McGee types on the laptop, and there are three links on Abby's email."

"What is this, Abby?"

"Just check this out."

McGee clicks on the first link and a page from _Deviantart_ appears.

"What I am looking at."

Abby is jumping up and down on the spot, such is her enthusiasm and her intake in Caf!Pow.

"Our Anna Julia is an artist. More specifically, an amateur photographer."

McGee starts clicking on the pictures, and there were several studies of sunsets, flowers, people, each in a very special angle. There was a section only in portraits, each one showing emotions such as laughter, sadness, solitude.

Anna took pictures of everything and anything, from a feather falling slowly on the ground to a small kitty cat sleeping lazily on a rock on the sun.

Tony is looking over Tim's shoulder, "These are good."

"Good, they are great. She has an instinctive control on the tools of the camera, and she can capture pure poetry on her clicks."

"How do you know these pictures are taken by our Anna?"

Abby looks at McGee, and smirks, "Our Anna? Are you becoming a little possessive of her, McGee?"

He blushes, and tries to fix his blunder, "you know what I mean."

"Because the same pictures on _Deviantart_ are also in her travelblog. Click on the second link."

McGee clicks on the second link, and indeed, the same pictures are there, but these are accompanied with text describing where she took the picture, the features of the camera and the people she met on the way.

"Click on the section, '_about me'_."

He clicks on the link, and he stops breathing for a moment. In it, there is a picture of a white bedroom, bathed in very strong direct light. It was a simple bedroom, with only a bed and a small bedside table. There is a balcony, and in the background one could see the Grand Canyon in all its glory, its colors making a strong contrast with the whiteness of the room. However, what took his breath away wasn't the artful way of the picture was taken, but the person lying only with a small white bed linen over her hips.

Anna was lying on the bed belly down, her bronze skin making a starched contrast to the bed sheets. The bed was messed up, as if she has stayed the whole night up with her lover and was just waking up. She was laying upside down on the bed, one pillow supporting her feet, the other under her head. She was clearly naked under the bed sheet, as the suggestion of her breasts could be seen from where her chest touched the bed.

The ensemble was powerful in a very erotic way, and it still transmitted a sweetness and innocence that was hypnotizing.

"She's hot, isn't she?" asks Abby with a smirk, as she sees Tim's face as he stares the picture.

Tony is almost salivating.

"Man, that's our witness? Oh, I wonder if she's interested in some American interaction."

Tim's mind snaps as he hears that, and hits Tony with a jab on his ribs.

"Ouch, that hurt."

"We're here to protect her, not to try to get into her pants."

He looks at Abby, "Thanks Abby, I'll try to track her down through her websites."

"I'm not done yet."

"You're not?"

"Nope, check the third link."

They click it, and they see her Facebook page. In her profile picture, she is sitting in a yellow field, with a bright red dress laughing at the person taking the shots.

"We might not know where she is now, but we know where she was."

Tony looks down on the page, "She graduated in UniRio, maybe one of her former professors can give us some insight on where to find her."

"It's a start."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They take a cab and go to UniRio. After some time asking around, they are directed to the Humanities building, where they are received by a serious looking woman, a professor of Comparative Literature named Martha Ferreira.

"What can I do for you, gentleman?" she says in a British accent.

"We're looking for one of your former students, her name is Anna Julia Rodrigues and we believe she studied here some years back."

Tim gives the professor a couple of pictures they printed from her travelog, and from her Facebook page.

"Why are you looking for Anna?" she looks at them with suspicion.

"We wish her no harm. Actually, we are interested in buying the copyrights from some of her pictures, and we weren't able to find any email to contact her." Tony says with a charming smile, sticking to the cover story they created to explain their interest on their witness.

"Uhm, I don't know where she lives now, as she moved after she graduated. That girl was never happy here, always travelling whenever she could. I believe all I have is her email, but I don't know if she's still using it."

"It would be of great help, ma'am."

Professor Ferreira goes to her computer, and clicks on her contacts list.

"Here it is," she takes a pen and writes down the email in a _postit_, and gives it to the agents.

"If you get to see her, tell her to drop by to say hi, we live in the same city but it's been ages since she came to see us."

"We will, ma'am."

They leave the UniRio building, and walk down the lane looking for a taxi.

"It's a beginning."

"For sure."

Tony looks at the students drinking beer and having lunch on the bars outside of the University, and taps Tim's back.

"Wanna mix with the locals?"

Tony starts crossing the street towards the bar.

"Tony."

Tony smiles at the waiter, and asks for a table.

"Tony."

"Come on, McGee, it will be fun."

Tim shakes his head, desolated, "I don't know why but I'm sure I'm going to regret this later."


	6. I worship thee, Oh porcelain god!

_**CHAPTER SIX:**__** I worship thee, Oh porcelain god!**_

_**Portuguese expression: Adorar o deus de porcelana  
Literal translation: to worship the porcelain god  
Meaning: to fall on your knees with your head in the toilet. To puke. To barf.  
**_

Tim closes his eyes in agony, as he feels the bile coming up burning and kneels again before the toilet before disposing of the contents of his stomach violently.

He is shaking and his skin is wet with cold sweat. Thanks to Tony's great idea, they requested the day menu dish, which was _Feijoada_, a Brazilian traditional dish served on Wednesdays and on Saturdays. It consisted in black beans, pork ears, feet, and tail, beef turkey, all cooked for several hours until it became a thick creamy paste, served along with white rice, some type of green steamed leaf he couldn't remember the name and some bread crumbs filling.

To top it up, they asked about traditional drinks, and they were served with _caipirinhas_, made with a typical Brazilian spirit, _Cachaça,_ plus sugar, and lemon.

They were surprised by the size of the dish, as it was huge. They had only a light supper the night before, and almost nothing during the whole day, they attacked the dish like starving men. After the first lemon _caipirinha_, the waiter offered other flavors.

That's when he brought strawberry _caipirinhas_, kiwi _caipirinhas_, even jaboticaba caipirinhas. And they had never even heard of _jaboticabas_ before drinking the jaboticaba _caipirinhas_.

After hours sitting at the restaurant and several caipirinhas later, they unsteadily called a taxi and went back to their hotel.

However, as soon as they arrived at the hotel, McGee started feeling sick. The heavy food he just ate fell like lead on his empty stomach, and it started boiling like lava. He barely had time to reach the bathroom before the _caipirinhas_, the rice and beans made an appearance again.

So that's why, one hour later, he was still puking his guts in the huge bathroom of his penthouse suite.

_I hope Tony is as sick as I am_, he thinks revengefully. Then he barfs again.

When he had nothing else to puke anymore, he went on unsteady legs to the bathroom sink, washed his face and brushed his teeth.

He went slowly to the living room, and fell like a log on the delicate sofa.

"McGee, are you ok?" Tony calls him out weakly, in an unsteady voice.

"Go away, I'm dying."

Tony enters Tim's penthouse through their connecting door, also looking green around his gills.

"I hate you." Tim says without opening his eyes.

"I know. But how could I know that it was so heavy? It tasted so delicious. Everyone else was eating it too, and no one got sick."

"No one got sick because they are Brazilians. They are used to eating this stuff. And we had practically nothing to eat for two days in a row." Tim takes one of the cushions on the sofa and covers his face.

"Oh God, kill me now." He massages his belly over his burning stomach.

"I've ordered room service for us."

"I don't think I can eat right now. I don't think I can even look at food right now."

"Just soup, we can't go without eating the whole day again."

"Argh."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

After an anti-acid and a light soup, both agents fell on the bed and slept for three hours, away from the noise and the heat of the city, with their air conditioning working full throttle.

When Tim wakes up, it is already dusk. The sun is not as strong as before and the breeze of the sea is starting to blow over Copacabana. He turns off the air conditioning and goes to the balcony.

He breathes in the salty smell of the sea, and closes his eyes as the breeze whispers against his skin. He goes to the banister of the balcony and looks down, and sees several people jogging, riding their bikes, rollerblading, just enjoying the cooler period of the day to enjoy the breeze of the sea.

He comes back to his living room, and sits down. He goes to his pant pockets, and grabs the email address given to him by Anna's professor.

It's time to start hunting now.

First he starts a simple search, and then starts digging deeper. It's a simple gmail account, so it takes a little bit of creative hacking, but he is able to crack the password and check her last access.

According to her last sent email, the last time she logged into her account had been around one pm that same afternoon, so he starts tracking her down.

He is curious to see several emails from the same firm on her incoming mail box, and he clicks one of them, and bingo.

She was sending emails from her work account to her personal account. Several emails, and every single one of them had her signature on it. With her address and phone number.  
He takes pen and paper from the small writing desk and takes note of the information.

There is a knock on the connecting door.

"Come on in."

"Probie, I'm going out shopping for clothes, wanna come with me."

Tim nods, "sure, let me just finish this. I've found where she works."

"You did?"

"Yeah, take a look at his."

Tony sits beside him, "man, you hacked her email box."

"It wasn't that difficult to guess her password. After seeing her pictures, I guessed it would be something related to travel or photography."

"And was it?"

"Yeah, but look at this." He shows Tony a long list of emails, all sent by the same person and same office, "this is her corporate email. Whenever she wants something later, she emails it back to her personal account, and," he clicks in one.

Tony leans towards the screen, "we have her address and phone number. Good job, Probie."

"We can call her now, check if she is still in the office."

"I don't know, office hours here in Brazil end at six in most offices."

They both look at the clock hanging on the wall. It is seven thirty-three. Tony takes the phone from the base and starts dialing.

It rings.

It rings again.

"Nobody answers." He turns it off and looks at Tim.

"Let's go shopping, I want new underwear."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

**_Rio de Janeiro_**  
**_Lagoa de Freitas_**  
**_Thursday, 10:30 am_**

The following morning, they go to the address in the signature of her emails. They enter a big corporate building, and go to the receptionist who is answering the phone, at the same time smiling tiredly at the people on the line trying to enter the building.

They enter the line, and patiently wait for their turn.

_"Oi, posso ajuda-los"(Hi, may I help you?)_

"Hi." Tony smiles his most charming smile, and the girl blinks, and smiles tiredly, "Hi."

"We're looking for Anna Julia Rodrigues, do you know if she is in?"

"Anna? You want to talk to Anna? Wait a second please." She types something in her computer, gets the extension number and calls upstairs.

She speaks in Portuguese for some minutes on her headphone, then hits the mute button and shakes her head to the two gringos.

"I'm sorry, Anna called in sick this morning, she's not in the office today. Is your business only with her? Anyone else that might assist you?"

"No, only with her. Do you by any chance have her mobile number?"

The receptionist shakes her head sadly.

"I'm sorry, we're not authorized to give mobile numbers without previous authorization. It's a company rule."

Tony nods, he was expecting something like that anyway.

"Ok. No problem. We'll try tomorrow."

They walk away, and when they are some steps away they see her talking excitedly at the headset.

"She's lying." says Tony.

"Yep. Anna is in the building." They step out into the heat of the morning.

"What I want to know is how she knew we were coming."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They patiently wait, sitting at a bar table across the avenue, sipping cold water. They see no sign of her during lunch break, when several people come in and out of the building. They stay until six, and people start to leave the building in small waves, going to their homes. They wait, wait, and their patience is rewarded when a short brunette in an elaborated braid leaves the building. She is wearing a white shirt, which hugs her chest in a nice way, leaving her arms naked to be sun kissed. She is wearing a gray knee length shirt, and sensible shoes. She walks down the block, and the two Americans immediately stand up and start following her from across the avenue.

She walks up to the exit of a parking lot, and stops there and looks at her watch. They look to both sides, and have to wait for the traffic light to turn green so they go across.

"Come on. Come on."

A Fiat Uno comes out of the parking lot, she hops in the passenger seat and the cars drive off.

"No, no, no."

"Taxi!"

They struggle a little to get a taxi, as it is rush hour. When they finally find one, the driver has difficulty to follow the Uno in the heavy traffic. Finally it enters into a side road and parks. It seems that there is some kind of festivity in a warehouse at the end of the block, and the two people in the car get out and go to it.

The agents pay the taxi and run after them, and when they enter the doors of the warehouse, they are blasted with loud music, sweat and screams of children. It's a carnival fair, and their target is gone. People are overflowing the warehouse. Several stands serving food or offering you the chance of playing games can be seen spread out as far the eye can see.

"Damnit." Says Tony, exhasperated. So close and yet so far.

They divide and start looking for the woman in white shirt and grey skirt, but after staying two hours going in circles, they can't find her anywhere.

She is gone.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

_"Anna, can you come here for a moment, please?"_ Calls Joana softly in Portuguese, unwilling to disturb the sleeping children in the daycare.

Anna silently kisses the head of the baby she had been changing, and puts her back on her cradle. She had volunteered to work in the nursery during the annual festival of her church, as everyone said she had a calming touch for the babies.

_"Hi, Joana, what is up?"_

Joana smiles at her helper, who had changed out of her office clothes and was in jeans and a white t-shirt.

_"We have a new little one to care for now."_

Anna comes to the main room of the nursery. The Annual bakery sale occurred every year in her church, and she always volunteered to work in the nursery, away from the food stands and noise of the bands. She preferred much more the sweet lullaby of babies breathing, and the sweet smell of their skin. Just to make it more comfortable for the parents, the church offered nursery and babysitter services, as well as a playground with other volunteers, so the kids would not get lost in the insanity of the place.

_"Look who is here, Aunt Anna."_

Joana shows her a tiny little princess with a button pink mouth, with a tiny pink bow on her hair.

Anna approaches Joanna and reverently takes the baby from the older woman's arms and smiles at the small delicate life that snuggles against her chest. She feels a deep pang on her chest, and fluttering in her womb, but consciously buries her secret desire of having children on her own back into the deepest corner of her mind.

_It's not going to happen, silly. You got no man, and you have to take care of your parents. No man will want someone with such burden._

She blinks away the tears in her eyes, and smells the sweet powder perfume that seems to linger in the baby.

_"You should get one of your own, Anna."_

Anna opens her eyes, which she hadn't noticed she had closed, smiles and shakes her head, sadly.  
_  
"Not going to happen, Joana."_

"_What about Julio Cesar? He has been looking at you."_

_"He just wants me because he can't have me. His heart belongs to another. He's the only one who doesn't know that yet. He will always go back to Fernanda."_

_"How was your trip to America? Was it all you expected to be?"_

Joana studies her friend, and she frowns when she sees a mask of fear covering her face. Anna is many things, but she rarely seems frightened.

_"What happened there?"_

"_Nothing."_

_"Come on, you know you can tell me."_

Anna looks at her, her deep brown eyes searching her older friend. Finally she sighs, and looks down at the fragile baby in her arms.

_"Nothing happened. I don't want to talk about it anymore."_

She turns, and goes to the other room, feeling her friend's gaze burning on her back. She puts the precious baby in one of the empty cots, and stares unseeing at the baby, remembering the scene she saw by accident.

The shots.

The moan of pain of the man as he fell to the floor.

Her trembling as she stared at the man stepping over the corpse and walking away, as if it meant nothing to him.

Her desperate dash down the stairs and the man's life blood on her hands, as she tried to stop his bleeding.

Her tears as she scrubbed his blood out of her hands and body, and how she stayed up the rest of the night until she could take the first taxi to the airport to do her check-in and leave.

She had believed she had left pain and death behind in Rio when she left for her trip to America.

She was wrong. Death followed her everywhere she went.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

**_Copacabana Palace Hotel.  
10:42 pm_**

Tony had complained that his stomach was still hurting, so he just ate some fresh salad and fruits and went to bed.

Tim stayed up and was checking her travelog and pictures. He reads the posts, and he is intrigued by the person who reveals herself through the log entries.

According to her posts, she would save money the whole year for what she called adventuring, a month long trip somewhere, far away, where she would take tons of pictures and document the people and the place.

She travelled through Europe, South America, and this month had been the first time she had the chance to go to the US.

Her pictures from Miami showed the diversity of the people in the streets. In New York she seemed fascinated with the yellow cabs.

Then she had uploaded tons of pictures from the Grand Canyon. Apparently, she had become the penpal of an Native American Leader in the park reservation and she requested the chance of taking pictures of the tribe. She documented each face, both in a serious moment and laughing.

She was fascinated by the texture of the skin, burned by the sun. The hands gnarled by hard work that seemed endless.

His favorite picture was a self portrait that apparently one of the Indians insisted to take of her. She was dressed in the traditional tribe dress, and sitting on the border of the Canyon. She was looking at the horizon, the sun bathing the stones with an amazing array of colors. Her simple white skin dress made a deep contrast with the red rock, and her long brown hair had been tidily braided in Native style, with some feathers in it.

She looked like a spirit of old times. Untamed. Free.

He breathes deeply, and stares at her picture for a moment, before clicking to go to the main page.

He sits straighter as he sees she just uploaded two new pictures. Exactly two minutes before.

He clicks on it, and sees that the pictures were taken today, and they were not the same standard of the other ones, as they obviously had been taken from a mobile phone camera.

The first one was tagged _'Back to work',_ and showed her in the clothes they saw her today, sitting between three other women laughing. She had her head thrown back and there were tears of happiness running on her face.

The second one was tagged _'Cultivating the future'_, and showed her in a simple jeans and a white top, in a room that seemed like a nursery, with several cots against the walls. She was holding a very tiny baby in her arms, sitting on a rocking chair in a corner.

He immediately starts a small program to try to track down where she is logged on, but apparently she is using a proxy server, and the signal is bouncing everywhere.

He writes a comment on the pictures.

_"I want to meet you." _And he signs with his first name and adds his email address, _Timothy_.

He stops with his finger on the keyboard, unsure of what else he can write to convince her of the danger she is in, and to accept their protection.

He stares at the screen, and he had just started to type again when the page reloads with her answer.

_"Why would you?"_

He frowns. What kind of question was that? Not the next logical question, _Who are you_, but _Why would you_. Why he, a stranger, would want to meet someone like her.

He starts typing.

_"You are in danger. I was sent to protect you. It's about what happened in DC."_

He hits send, and waits for her answer.

He hits his forehead with a slap, he should have written he was a Fed, but he doesn't know who could be accessing and reading her blogs too.

He waits for an answer, and he starts to type when the page loads again.  
_  
"Why should I trust you?"_

He bites his lower lip, thinking about what he can possibly write to make her trust him.

He decides to go with the truth.

_"Because we're the good guys."_

His tracking program is still bouncing, and he looks at the comments praying that she stays online. Suddenly he loses the signal.

She went offline.

He stands up frustrated and rubs his face with a tired hand, and goes to the balcony overlooking Atlantica Avenue.

"Where are you, Anna?" he whispers to the sea, but the sea doesn't answer his question.

His computer pings, signaling that he has incoming email. He frowns, comes to look at his email account and there is one new message.

_From: anna_julia 1983 at gmail dot com_

_To: tmcgee at navy dot mil dot us_  
_  
Dear Timothy,_

_I don't know who you are, but apparently you know who I am._

_I don't know why you think I am in danger, and why you think you can protect me._

_You don't know me. Believe me, I can protect myself. I've been doing it for years._

_I have no guarantee that you are who you say you are, one of the good guys._

_I have yet to meet one in my life._

_Go back to whatever hole you crawled from, and leave me alone._

_Goodbye,_

_Anna._

He hits reply.

_From: tmcgee at navy dot mil dot us_

_To: anna_julia 1983 at gmail dot com_  
_  
Dear Anna,_

_I know you have absolutely no reason to believe me, but I'm telling you the truth._

_I work for the US Navy, and we know you saw something while in DC. I was ordered to come to protect you. Please believe me, I wish you no harm._

_Can we set up a meeting? We really need to talk._

_Yours truly,_

_Timothy._

He hits send, and prays that she would answer. When he was starting to despair, the email came. He opens it, and her answer is short and to the point.

_From: anna_julia 1983 at gmail dot com_

_To: tmcgee at navy dot mil dot us_

_Flamengo beach party, near LifeGuard station 22. _

_Saturday, 1 pm._

_I'll be wearing red._

_Anna_


	7. She makes them exchange the balls

_**Chapter 7: She makes them change the balls.**_

_**Portuguese idiom: trocar as bolas  
Literal translation: Exchanging balls  
Meaning: Getting confused with something.  
**_

_**Rio de Janeiro  
Flamengo Beach  
**__**Friday, 2:40 am  
**_

Next morning they spend the morning hitting the shops, buying clothes so they could stay until Monday in Rio.

They frown when they see the prices, as after a simple math they see they are paying a lot more than what they would pay if they bought the same thing in US. They ask the shop clerk about that, and she explained, in strong accented English, that it was due to the heavy tax load in Brazil.

They report back to Gibbs, and inform him that they had found their target, and that they set up a meeting for the following day.

Gibbs tells them to ensure to convince her to stay, as their investigation on their end had run out of steam.

Apparently, the money coming into Captain Davis account came from several important people in the Navy. But those, when inquired of the reason they were giving money to the Captain, all denied even meeting the Captain.

They had never heard of the man before.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

_**Rio de Janeiro  
Flamengo Beach  
Saturday, 12:40 am  
**_  
On the scheduled date and time, they take a taxi and go to Flamengo Beach. They are a little weary of the taxi driver, who also had the same maniac smile on his face than the first taxi driver who robbed them blind.

They just breathe relieved when they arrive at their destination, pay and see him leaving in a hurry back into the traffic.

They look at the beach. The blasting sound of Brazilian music can be heard from where they are standing several yards away from the huge crowd dancing. There is some kind of party going full force, and they start walking towards the repercussion noise, looking for the LifeGuard station 22.

However, as they approach the crowd in the party, they frown as they see something very curious. Every single woman, man and child in the party is wearing red clothes. Red shirts, red dresses, red trousers, red shoes. They look around, and the singer on the stage, singing to excite the crowd jumping on the sand, is on a red top and a white shorts.

"You gotta be kidding me," says Tony as he looks around.

"She did it on purpose." Tim looks up and down the beach, and realizes that there is no way they will be able to find her in this mess.

"She's smarter than we thought."

"How are we going to find her?"

"We try."

They go around, examining the women's faces as they go, but the girls look at them and smile, but none is the girl from the passport and video. They walk around for an hour, circling the LifeGuard station and after they approach the sixth wrong woman, Tony gets fed up.

"Why did she do this? How are we going to find her in a red dress in a party where everyone is wearing red?"

Tim frowns and leans against one of the threes on the covered area, looking around trying to find her. He had memorized her features, as he spent most of the night going through her travellog and her personal pictures at Facebook.

He stands straighter as he sees a white skirt fluttering in the sea breeze behind a tree, a couple of yards away, and a small tanned face peeks from behind it, staring at them distrustfully.

It's her.

"Maybe," he stares at her, their eyes cross, and she looks frightened and hides behind the tree again, "because she's the only one not wearing red."

"What?"

McGee starts walking towards her and she glances again at them, notices she was caught. She turns around and walks away quickly. McGee and Tony start following her, a small brunette woman in a flowered white dress. She crosses the avenue, walks down the block and enters a restaurant further down the road. They cross the road in a hurry, as soon as the signal turns green, rush to the same restaurant they saw her entering, but they don't see her anymore.

They keep walking, and Tony sees the tail end of her skirt behind a column. He points it to Tim, and they approach and divide, and when she goes to take a peek on one side, McGee surprises from behind, and she gives a little girly scream, scared.

"Oh, what the… Didn't your mother teach you never to frighten people?"

"My mother taught me a lot of things," he looks down at her, studying her face and comparing to the one of the pictures he saw the whole night, and decides that her pictures did not do justice to her beauty. "One of them is not to deceive people."

She sighs, and looks up and down at Tony and at Tim, "I wasn't deceiving you."

She looks around at the restaurant, and waves to a waiter, asking for a table. "I was being careful. You Americans can be very sneaky, and I do not trust you."

She stares at him, her eyes serious and with a small frown on her face.

She speaks to the waiter, who guides them to a small alcove at the back of the restaurant. They notice that a very muscular man stands on the counter, and stares at them with a very unfriendly  
face.

"Listen, we need to—"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear your voice." She interrupts Tim rudely. She motions for them to sit down. A waiter arrives, and she speaks in rapid Portuguese, and the waiter leaves.

The muscular man folds his thick muscular arms, and his biceps bulge.

"Ms Rodrigues, we –"

"I told you to shut up." She stares at him furious. "I'm the one doing the talking here. Not you."

She sits down, and Tim and Tony look at each other, confused. She closes her eyes, and takes several deep breaths to calm herself.

Finally she opens her eyes, and studies these gringos before her.

"I'm going to give you two a fair warning, and then I want you to leave. I want you to stop calling my mother, stop bothering my father. They are not going to bow to your extortion game again. You should be ashamed of robbing the innocent blind, I agree that they are gullible, but they are innocent people. You robbed my parent's life time economies, and for all that I should ask my friend Jonas there," she points to the muscular waiter, who stands up and stares at them with fury, "to give you a lesson you would never ever forget, but I will let you walk out of this place with your lives, as long as you stop contacting my parents, do you read me?" she says almost hissing with fury, her eyes burning at them.

"Ma'am," Tim tries to talk, but she hits her closed fist on the table.

"You are bastards! You robbed my parents, and I should order you arrested. But I have no proof, so all I have to say is GET OUT OF OUR LIVES!" She shouts at his face, her voice quivering with fury.

She stands up to leave, but Tim grabs her hand and forces her to face him. Jonas, the gorilla, stands up and is ready to charge, when he speaks to her.

"We're not here for your parents." She frowns at him, and raises her hand, stopping Jonas, who seems ready to get into a fight.

"What?"

"We've never contacted your parents. We don't even know who your parents are. We're not here for your parents." She takes a step back, but her wrist is still being firmly held in Tim's hand.

She looks confused, and looks from Tim to Tony for a moment, "Aren't you the crazy Americans who invited my mom for a Pyramid business again?"

Tony shakes his head, "no, we're here for you."

"Why?" she tries to get her wrist out of his hand, and he finally releases her. He stands up, and stares down at her.

"We're here because we believe you witnessed a crime while in Georgetown, and we need your testimony. We're cops and we were sent here to protect you." Tim studies her face, and he sees her fury slipping away. Pure terror inundates her features for a second, before she takes control of her face again.

"I'm Timothy McGee, the cop who contacted you two days ago through your photoblog."

She stares confused at him, studying his face with untrusting eyes.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

She turns around, and starts leaving.

"Anna," he grabs her arm, and Jonas takes another step towards them, but she holds him in check just with a wave.

She studies his face, takes a step forward, and says very close to his face, "I said, I have no idea what you are talking about. Go back to your country. You are not welcome here."

He stares at her, and he can see her fear behind the brave mask she is wearing.

"I can't."

She turns around, and walks down the corridor towards the entrance of the restaurant.

"Anna!"

She ignores him, and goes out to the restaurant to the street. Both Tim and Tony rush after her.

"Anna!"

"What?" she turns to them, aggravated.

"You are in danger."

She laughs, as if he is telling her the joke of the year.

"Danger? Please, I live in Rio, I _thrive _in danger. Why don't you go back to your nice life with your fancy clothes and cars and leave me alone."

She turns her back at them and starts walking away.

They get to the stop light and she stares at it impatiently for it to become green.

"Please listen to us, we came all the way from DC to talk to you. We need your help to solve a crime and you need our help, because you are in danger. They are people who -" says McGee, pleading at her.

She glances at him, her feet in encased in low heels hitting impatiently at the floor. She turns and glares at him, "Listen to me, gringo, if you think—"

A shot is heard, and Anna immediately gets tense, looking around.

Tony and Tim instinctively cover her body with theirs, each one on one of her sides, and look around looking for the source of the shot.

_"Ah, merda,"_ mutters Anna, staring at the mass of people running in a stampede a few blocks down.

"What's happening?" asks Tony, looking at the people running towards them.

"_Arrastão_." She ignores the red signal and starts running into the other direction, running between the cars which are playing their horns in a cacophony of sounds. The Americans stand still, staring mesmerized to the wall of people moving towards them. "RUN, YOU FOOLS, RUN!"

Something clicks inside them, and they follow Anna running away from the crowd. More shots are heard, so are the screams of the people. Somehow, they instinctively know that they will be in trouble if they are caught in the unruly wave of people. Anna turns to the right, and they follow her, and the people keep on running straight on the street. She runs two other blocks, and looks back, and the Americans are terrified, but still after her. She stops to catch her breath, and they stop too.

"So, what now?"

Another shot is heard, and they see a mass of people coming from other street.

"Shit man, where are they coming from?" asks Tony, his hands on his head. He sees people in red and black jerseys fighting with people in white and black jerseys. It's a free for all, everybody hitting every body.

Anna looks around, sees an open door of a building and grabs them by their shirts and rushes to it. She shuts the door violently, and runs down the dark corridor until she gets to the stairs. The two Americans run after her, and follow her as she climbs the stairs two steps at the time, all the way to the third floor. She stops, looks around, and tries the doors of the floor. They see her terrified efforts, and go to the other doors, looking for one that might open and give them refuge.

"Come on, come on!" Locked. Locked. Another Locked.

Anna tries the next one, and that one opens. She waves at them, and they rush inside and freeze staring at what they walked into.

She closes the door violently after they go through the threshold, resting her body against it and putting on the chain, locking the three locks with the keys hanging from a keychain on the door.

She closes her eyes, and leans her feverish forehead against the door, the tremors of panic slowly taking over the adrenaline.

"Ah, Anna?" Tony calls her out softly, and she doesn't open her eyes.

"What?"

"I think we're in trouble."

"Why?"

"You better take a look at this," says Tim in a soft voice.

Anna opens her eyes, turns and freezes as she sees where the hell they entered.

Out of the fire, straight into the frying pan.

There were three people in the room, all staring at them with surprised faces. Almost as surprised as Anna and the two Americans.

However, all three were naked on a sofa bed on the living room of the small apartment, two were obviously transvestites due to the fake boobs and faces in a very delicate make up, and the only man between them was on his knees, each hand holding one of the erect sexual members of the transvestites.

There was a moment of silence, in which time seemed to freeze. The taller transvestite's face twisted in a mask of fury, and opened his mouth to shout at the intruders.

Successive shots are heard, and the two Americans and Anna instinctively drop to the floor. The transvestites and the man jumped to the makeshift bed, and started shouting in Portuguese.

Tony and Tim crawled closer to the window, trying to look at the gunfight downstairs.

Anna turned at the people in the bed and hissed for a long time in Portuguese, pointing at the Americans, the window and the door.

The transvestite answered, and Anna spoke again, and grimaced as the sound of an explosion was heard.

She glanced at the Americans, and she saw Tim taking a peek of the fight downstairs. She rushed to him, grabbed him by his collar and threw him against the wall, her body pressing against him as more shots were heard.

"Do you wanna die?" she hissed at him between her teeth.

He stares at her, feeling her body against his. He gulps, and stares at Tony, who crawls away from the window and leans against the wall, sliding slowly to the floor in defeat.

"No," he says, staring at her eyes. He feels her breasts pressed against his chest, and he is feeling the adrenalin coursing through his veins.

"Then stay the fuck away from the fucking window." She hisses at him, and stares at the open window, and at the battle being fought downstairs.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"We're in civil war, an unnamed one. More people die from gunshots in Rio in a normal day than in some battle zones around the world."

They were sitting on the floor, sipping strong Brazilian coffee. The man and the transvestites had put their clothes on and were sitting on the sofa.

After some rapid fire Portuguese, one of the transvestites brought some cups of hot steaming coffee for the invaders of his home.

They hear more screams and fighting downstairs. The battle is not over.

"Why don't the police interfere?"

Anna laughs, but her laughter sounds hollow, "they are worst than the bandits. Totally corrupt. The very few who aren't corrupt can't really do their jobs without having a hard time with the corruption that runs free in the Police corporation."

Anna looks at the window. "There was a football game this afternoon. Botafogo vs Flamengo"

Anna shakes her head, "You Americans like to put different names on things, so you call it soccer. Only your American football is deemed worthy of being named football. But all over the world, the word is football. As it should be."

She looks at Tim and Tony, and smiles faintly, as they look ridiculous sitting on the floor with their long legs before them with tiny coffee cups in their hands.

"The organized fan clubs of these teams use the sport as an excuse to settle their differences on the field outside the fields. Thus, the fights."

"They were armed, we heard the shots."

Anna nods, "only the innocents are not armed in Rio. And the innocents usually end up dead. The drug lords, the traffic dealers, the pushers, the cops, violence is all a viral disease that spread out in all levels of society. No one is safe."

She puts her coffee cup on the floor, and hugs her legs covered with her simple white skirt, "so, there is no hope."

They hear the sound of sirens, and the sound of the fight diminishes and dies. Anna stands up, and slowly approaches the window. She looks down, and sees that the cops are dispersing the fighting soccer fans.

Timothy stands up, and walks up behind her. He stops a step behind her, and looks at the movement downstairs.

"Is it safe to go, now?" he says softly against her ear, and he sees her shivering as his warm breath touches her skin.

"Not yet. Soon it will be." She moves away from the window, and from him.

She walks back to where she was sitting, and collects her coffee cup from the floor. She walks up to the transvestite and puts the cup on his hand. He nods, and before he walks away, Anna speaks long and emotionally to him. She points to the other transvestite, and keeps talking for some minutes.

Tony stands up from the floor, and Tim approaches him, both watch Anna giving a speech in Portuguese to the two people.

Then she stares at the man, and speaks harshly at him for some minutes.

She turns to them, takes their coffee cups of their hands, put it in the hands of the other transvestite, and goes to the door, and starts unlocking the locks of it.

Tim and Tony can see that the transvestites are silently crying, and the man is blushing with shame. Anna opens the door, and calls them out.

"Come on, it's safe now. Time to leave this place."

They wave at the three people, and leave the apartment, and Anna closes the door after herself. They silently walk the corridor and start going back to the ground floor.

As they reach the ground floor, Tony can't hold his curiosity in check anymore.

"Anna, what did you tell them?"

Anna gets to the door that opens to the street, and looks up and down, "Come on, there's no one in sight."

"Did you hear my question? What did you tell them?"

She glances at him briefly, and walks out of the building. They follow her, and she slams the door shut.

"Nothing important."

"It seemed important to me," says Tim, studying her face. He sees her rolling her eyes at him. "It seemed important to them."

Anna starts walking, ignoring them.

"Anna!" Tim shouts.

"I told them that Jesus loves them, ok!" She stops and shouts exasperated at them. She stares at the two Americans, who now are looking as if she is crazy lunatic. She shrugs, their opinion on of her is not important anyway.

"I told them that God hates sin but loves the sinner, and He would never turn his back to them if they truly repent of their sins and seek Him with all their hearts. And…" she looks to the floor, "that there is a reason in everything He does, that He created a fight so I could hide myself into their apartment, meet them and deliver His word for them."

She hugs herself, and starts walking towards the avenue they were just some hours before.

"What about the other guy?" Tim rushes and starts walking beside her.

She glances briefly at him, but doesn't slow down her step.

"I told him he should be ashamed of his actions, because he was worst than them. They do what they do because they have no choice and need the money. But he is a liar. He should go back to his wife and kids."

They reach the avenue, and they look up and down to the leftover to the fight on the streets. There was broken bottles and garbage littering the avenue, as if a hurricane had gone through it.

"How did you find out he has wife and kids?" Tony is surprised with her deductive skills.

She glances at him, then says, "I saw the wedding ring when he served us coffee. And there was a plastic bag with children toys on the corner where he put his pants and shirt on."

Tony and Tim look at each other and smile.

"Let's go, we have a long way to go."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They take a bus to go to Anna's home in one of the poor communities in a hill. They travel for a long time, and Tony starts to feel antsy to stay in a packed full bus with nothing to do.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Five minutes later.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Twenty minutes later, and still in the bus.

"Are we –"

"Shut up Tony, or I'll shut you up," says McGee irritated, looking at Tony who raises his hands in surrender. Anna smiles at the two Americans, digs in her bag and brings a book out.

"Here, read something. Time will pass and you won't notice."

Tony pouts and takes the book. He opens it.

"This book is in Japanese." He looks further down on the book, and the illustrations on it.

"Hey, but that's porn!" He looks at Anna, barely containing his surprise.

"Not porn, Hentai." She says looking out of the window of the bus.

McGee can't hide his surprise either.

"You read Japanese porn?

"No, I just like the pictures." She smirks, and Tim keeps staring at her.

She feels his stare, looks at him, and laughs, "What? Are you a prude?"

Tim blushes and doesn't say anything. Tony laughs at them and starts reading the manga.

They reach the final stop and leave the bus. Anna guides them through tortuous ways up the hill to her home. They start climbing several sets of stairs, and Anna stops to salutes some men who are with folded arms on one level, dressed in surfer shorts and no t-shirt on. Their muscles are slim but powerful, but not as powerful as the Israeli Uzis they lazily hold in their hands. The men stare at the foreigners with mistrust, and talk a long time with Anna, who points at them and at herself, explaining their visit to her.

_"Eles estão comigo. Conheci eles nas minhas viagens." (They're with me, I've met them in my travels.)  
_  
They nod talk in a portable radio, talk again with Anna, and allow them to continue their way up.

Tony and Tim walk by them, and their stare burns the Americans, who gulp and follow Anna very closely.

"Who are they?" asks Tony, who stares back at one of them, who touches his machine gun with the natural ease of a person used with heavy artillery.

"The dogs of war of the slum. No one comes ups or down without their approval."

"Why?"

She points up, and they see several men on the top of the houses up the hill, all of them with very have machinery, patrolling the narrow streets of the hill.

"Welcome to the real world, my world."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

They go up another set of steps, and start walking in a small pedestrian road until they reach a very humble house, made out of bricks. Ana gets her key, and opens the house, shouting to her parents that she is home.

They enter a small living room, approximately not over ten feet long to twelve wide. Its white walls were covered with landscape pictures, probably taken by Anna, and several pictures of Anna with two older people. A small brown sofa was in the furthest corner of the living room, and a small rack with a small TV could be seen to its left. A small round dinner table was to the right, close to an open door that probably led to the other rooms of the house. Its white chairs were still covered with the protective plastic from when they were bought. On top of the table, a small blue vase with a plastic flower bouquet tried valiantly to bring some color to the room.

It failed.

A small white woman, with dyed black hair with white roots peeking in between comes from the kitchen. She is dressed in a simple gray dress, in a very light fabric, and kisses Anna in both cheeks and points to the foreigners.

Anna speaks in Portuguese with the woman, who opens a huge smile, and then approaches them. She looks them up and down, cups Tony's face on her calloused hands and kisses him in both cheeks, leaving him with a surprised smile on his face.

She turns to Tim, glances back at Anna and says something that makes Anna blush and look down to the floor. The smiling woman looks up at Tim, cups his face and also kisses both of his cheeks. He stares at her surprised, as she takes a step, slaps him lightly on his cheek, and leaves him rooted on the spot, as she goes back to the kitchen talking nonstop in Portuguese.

Anna shakes her head and responds something, glances at Tim and blushes.

"What did she say?" His curiosity is biting him, and he squints at her when he sees her blushing even brighter under her tan.

She supports her hand on her hip, "she said that any friends I've made during my journeys are welcome in our house."

She turns and goes to sit on the sofa, gets one of the crocheted cushions on it and sits, hugging the cushion against her chest.

"No, after that, she said something else."

"Nothing important." She denies emphatically, but she can't meet his eyes, her hands nervously fidgeting with the crochet details on the cushion.

"She said that she has been praying for Anna to meet a good man, and that God finally answered her prayers," says a very thin man in a very heavy accent, coming from the door that leads to the bedrooms. His deep tanned skin is marked by the years, his hair is totally white, and he moves with difficulty towards the visitors. He supports himself on a cane, and as soon as she sees him, Anna runs to help him to sit on the love seat opposite to the Americans. The two Americans stand up, looking at him with respect.

She talks softly in Portuguese, and he supports himself on her arm until he sits, and lightly taps her hand and looks at the Americans with very intelligent eyes. His body might be failing him, but the mind behind those eyes watch the Americans with the same perspicacity from Gibbs.

Anna speaks at him again, but he waves his hand and interrupts her, "We'll talk in English, so they won't be uncomfortable."

Anna sits back on the sofa and nods obediently.

"Dad, you shouldn't have left the bed."

"I'll sleep when I'm dead, and there is still life in these old bones."

He looks at the foreigners, who glance from Anna to him, then back to Anna again.

"You are Anna's father." Says Tim, as he compares their features.

The old man nods, "I'm Ricardo Rodrigues. What brings you to my home?"

Tim sits on the edge of the sofa, leaning towards Anna's father.

"We're here to protect your daughter. We're cops, Navy cops from America. We believe she witnessed a crime which put her in danger."

Ricardo looks at Anna, who is staring at her own hands without saying a word.

"Is it somehow related to the reason why you are waking up screaming in the middle of the night since you arrived from America?"

Anna blushes, and glances to the Americans then glares to her father.

"Dad, please!"

"What makes you believe you can protect her?" He turns to Tim, who nods at his concern.

"We're willing to put her under witness protection in exchange of her testimony, and we also would relocate her to America until the trial is finished."

Anna shakes her head, "That's not acceptable." She stands, and stares down at them, "I'm not going."

"Anna!"

Tony stands up, "Why not? We're offering you protection! If we found you, you can believe that the people who killed that marine will also find you, and then you will be in trouble!"

She turns to him, and hisses at his face, "I'm not going anywhere without my parents!"

They enter into a staring contest, and Tony has to admire her tenacity.

Anna's mother comes out of the kitchen, and says something in Portuguese. Anna rolls her eyes and hurries to help her mother.

Anna's father shakes his head, and signals for the American to sit down.

"I apologize in name of my daughter."

Anna glares at them, as she starts putting plates and cutlery on the table, as her mother rushes from and to the kitchen bringing pans with food.

"She inherited my stubbornness, I'm afraid."

Tony sits down, and Tim glances at Anna before looking at Mr. Rodrigues.

"She's not safe here. The people we're talking about, they are dangerous. They won't think twice before coming here and looking for her."

Ricardo nods, in deep thought. "Living is dangerous, my son. Every day you leave your bed you are not sure if you will be able to come back to it in one whole piece. My Anna carries the burden of responsibility on her shoulders. She doesn't complain, the only thing she asks is to escape for some weeks every year away from the prison without walls that suffocates her soul. But this time, death followed her during her retreat, and she is deeply troubled by that."

They look at her, as she sets the unmatched glasses on the table along with paper napkins.

Ricardo takes a deep breath, and looks at his daughter. Tim's eyes follow his, and both observe her and her mother setting another pot pan on the small table.

"Talk to her, maybe you can change her mind."

"Thank you Mr. Rodrigues."

"Ricardo, just Ricardo." He starts to stand up, and Tim immediately stands up and rushes to help him up from the love seat. Anna sees her father's struggle, and runs to her father's side. As they help her father, Tim's hand accidentally touches hers, and she recoils as if touched by a live wire.

Her father frowns as he glances at his daughter, who is stubbornly staring at the floor. He glances at Tim, whose face is burning with a blush that comes up from his neck, his face, and all the way to his ears, but his eyes are firmly set on Anna.

Ricardo smiles, and gives his hand to Timothy, "help me to the table, son."

Both Anna and Tim help Ricardo take the few steps to the table, and he sits on one of the chairs. Anna's mother smiles at the foreigners, and starts taking the lids of the pots, and the small house is inundated with mouth watering smell of freshly made food.

"Ah, you shouldn't bother," says Tony, standing on the tip of his toes to stare on the pots with enticing smells that are so tempting.

Anna points to two empty chairs, "we don't have much, but what we have is freely given. You would hurt her feelings by denying her the right to play host. Please accept."

They nod, and sit down at the table. Anna's mother, that later on they find out that is named Julia, says something to her daughter while she serves generous portions of a thick orange soup on the plates of the Americans. She also adds spoonfuls of white rice, and shows them the bowls with fruit and salad that they might serve themselves.

Tony starts attacking the food, and moans at the taste, that it is divine. Tim takes a tiny bite, as he's aware of how tender his own stomach can be, and closes his eyes when his tastes buds are bombarded with a soft puree slightly tasting of garlic, sour cream and milk, with shrimps pieces in between.

Anna comes back from the kitchen with a juice jar, and offers them the freshly prepared juice.

"Thanks, what is this?"

"It is mango juice, freshly made. Very sweet and refreshing."

Tim gets his glass and holds it in the air so Anna may fill it. She leans down, and starts pouring the thick juice, and for some reason Tim's eyes are attracted to the small pendant she has hanging from her neck. Then his eyes fix on what is behind of the pendants, and he gulps. When she leaned down, her dress neck lowered, and he had a clear view of perfectly rounded mounds in bronze flesh, and the hint of a simple reinforced bra.

He blinks, trying to break the spell, and looks at his plate. He frowns at it, and puts a new bite of it on his mouth. He glances at Anna's father, who looks at him with a knowing expression in his eyes and smiles.

Anna serves Tony, whose face is practically buried on the plate, devouring the food, and sits down besides Tim.

"You don't like it?"

"Uhm?

Anna points to his plate.

"You don't like my mom's food. You are frowning at it."

He glances at her, and his eyes automatically lower to her boobs, and he mentally gives himself a head slap.

"No, no, no, it's delicious."

Tony takes a break and says between bites, "It's really good, what's the name of it?"

Anna smiles, and glances at her mother. Her mother starts speaking in Portuguese, and Anna translates it for her.

"It's _Bobó de Camarão_. Basically a thick mixture of manioc, garlic, onions, green peppers with shrimps on it."

Tony gulps his food, and tries to repeat the word. "_Bobooooohhhhh diiii Kamarooonnn_"

Julia laughs and Ricardo just shakes his head, and says, "no, _bo-bó de ca-ma-rão_."

Tony smiles, and tries again, "_Bohhhhboohhhh diiii Kahmahroonnn_"

Anna starts snickering, looks at her parents and the three Brazilians start laughing hysterically.

Tony and Tim smile, and try to say the word together, "_Bohhhhboohhhh_."

The whole table erupts in laughter.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"If I speak with my Boss back in America, and he agrees to put you and your parents into witness protection, would you come with us?"

The sun has lowered behind the hill, and even though it is still day, the temperatures dropped several degrees, and a nice breeze was blowing through the windows.

Anna frowns at her desert bow, as she eats another spoon of the passion fruit mousse her mother served as desert, and studies Tony, who is looking at her, between spoonfuls of the delicacy. Her mother and father had retreated to their room, in the back of the house, leaving Anna talking with the two foreigners in the living room.

"What makes you think your boss will agree?"

"Listen, we didn't come all the way here to fail. We were ordered here to bring you back to America to testify, and we are willing to negotiate. If granting safe passage to your parents is what will make you agree to come with us, we'll give it a try."

"What makes you think I care, Tony? It's just another man, who lost his life for a futile reason. It's not my problem. I do not care about him."

"Of course you care," says Tim, impatiently. He stands up and puts the desert bow on the table, and comes back to sit beside her. She is sitting on the sofa, one of her legs curled up under herself.

"You care, because we saw it."

She glances at him, her dark brown eyes staring at him. He notices that, depending on how the light hit them, they weren't black, but deep chocolate brown, with some lighter tones mixed in between.

"We saw you on the surveillance tape, how you tried to help him, even though that there was little hope for him. We saw you with those transvestites today. You care. You really care."

They stare into each other eyes, and he sees her resolve faltering.

"Sometimes, caring is not enough. You can't change the outcome of things regardless of how much you want it."

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." He quotes, remembering one of the several quotes his father would tell him.

She rolls her eyes at him, and he completes, "or, in your case, good women."

She stands up, folds her arms and walks to the small window, and stares at the narrow roads going down the hill.

"Come on," he leaves the sofa, and stands behind her, staring at her back, "let us at least make the call."

She sighs, and her shoulders lower in defeat, "make the call."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

There is no signal inside the house, so they climb by a small circular stairway to the roof. Once in the roof, Anna waves at the guards of the hill and puts her hands over Tim's shoulder, pointing to his cell phone.

They nod, as they know that there is no signal inside the precarious buildings, and the only place where you can get signal is on top of the houses.

However, the top of the houses of the hill were the watch towers for the guards, and they did not like sharing.

Tim smiles thinly at them, and starts dialing his new satellite phone they bought the previous day. He glances at Anna, whose arm moved from his neck to his waist, who is staring curiously at the top of the line mobile phone.

"You can let go of me now, I guess." He says, uncomfortable with her proximity.

She shakes her head, "if I let you go, you're easy target. A sitting duck. As long as they see you with me, and I'm not showing any sign that I'm uncomfortable in your presence, they won't shoot you."

He frowns, as he hears the phone ringing on the other side. "Really? Why?"

"They are jury, advocates and executors of the law on the hill. Everyone who lives here is under their domain. There is no robbery, no domestic disputes, no wife beating inside the limits of the hill. If such thing happens, all the wronged person has to do is to complain to one of the guards," she points to one of the armed guards, walking on top of the houses further up, "and they will dispense their law. Probably killing or mutilating the person, depending on the orders of the king of the hill."

"Oh…"he frowns at her, and gulps when she puts her head on his shoulder, hugging him by the waist.

"Relax, they won't harm you unless I ask them too."

She looks up and they stare at each other, a faint smile on her lips.

"Are you afraid?" She whispers, and his eyes lower to her lips, the phone still ringing on his ear.

"Very," he whispers back, and he starts leaning towards her.

"Gibbs." The line connects, and McGee jumps away from her.

"Boss!" He takes two steps back and takes a deep breath as he hears the familiar bark of Gibbs on his ear.

"McGee! What's happening over there? Why did you take so long to contact us?"

"Boss, we found her." He looks at Anna, who smiles saucily at him and goes to the edge of the roof, and sits facing the hill going down.

"Did you get her statement? Is she coming with you?"

"Boss, the answer is no to both questions."

"What do you mean, McGee? What's wrong with you? Just get her statement and get her out of there!"

"Boss, she has family here, she refuses to cooperate and to testify if we don't grant both her and her parents asylum."

"The deal was just for her, McGee. Witness protection is not a free green card lottery."

"I know, Boss, but," he glances up the hill, to the heavily armed men staring at him talking on the phone, "she's in danger here, more than what we have imagined before. If Captain Davis' killers don't find her first, she might be killed by the place itself or a lost bullet. Boss, we were almost killed today, and it was plain day light."

"McGee," says Gibbs, his voice resolute, "we need her insight, another Marine was killed yesterday, the same way Captain Davis was killed. Try to convince her to come, I will check with Vance, see what kind of deal I can cut on our side."

"Thanks, Boss. Meanwhile, we'll keep her safe and sound here."

"I'll contact you to tell you what it's decided here."

"Thanks Boss."

They disconnect. McGee smiles and waves at the guards, who wave back. He goes to the edge where Anna is sitting, staring down at the city below.

He sits down on the edge, and mimics her position, looking down at the city.

Hundreds of roofs, in various degrees of construction or repair, could be seen all the way down, until the point where the official road started, in a strange effect of bricolage. Further down, houses, bigger and in better state of repair, whirled down in narrow streets until they mixed with the buildings of the city. Far away, one could see the lights of the beach, with their skyscrapers and fancy expensive buildings.

In one side, luxury to the extreme, enjoying the breeze of the ocean. Just some miles away, the poverty of millions who struggled with the everyday just to make ends meet. Side by side, connected by the sea and the breeze.

She glances at him, then looks back to the horizon.

"What did your boss say?"

"He will talk with our director, and see if he can cut a better deal that includes your parents."

She nods sadly, "He won't."

He turns to her, her legs hanging from the ledge, moving them as one kid sitting in a chair too big for her to reach the floor.

"Why such pessimism?"

She shakes her head, and turns to him, "I'm not pessimist. I'm a realist."

She wiggles closer to him, and leans her head on his shoulder. After a moment of hesitation, he puts his hands over her shoulders, and hugs her against his side.

"Why?" he murmurs against her hair.

She sighs, and takes a while to answer.

"Because nothing good ever happens to me."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS


	8. She takes her horse out of the rain

_**Chapter 8: She takes her little horse out of the rain**_

_**Portuguese idiom: tirar o cavalinho da chuva  
Literal translation: Taking the little horse out of the rain  
Meaning: To give up something.**_

_**Origin of the idiom**__**: In the countryside, not so long ago, the transportation was made mainly by horses.**_

It did not leave you hanging out to dry if it breaks for some unknown reason and it does not stops for lack of fuel, and it could clearly signalize the intentions of the visitor as soon as he arrived at the residence.

If he tied the horse in front of the house, it meant that the visitor would stay for a short period of time.

If he took the horse to a place protected of rain and sun, ahhh, you should get ready because the visitor had clearly indicated his intention of staying for a long time.

If the horse was tied in front of the house, and the person decided to say goodbye, the host could say, "you may take your horse out of the rain," i.e., you may take your horse to a sheltered place, as he (the host) wanted he (the visitor) to stay for a longer time.

The expression crystallized in the popular use with the meaning of giving up of something, and for many people the horse gained an ironic meaning in the diminutive, adding the 'little' to the expression._  
_  
They leave the roof after some minutes and go down to the house, as Gibbs will call back only two hours later. As they enter the house, they find Tony sitting beside Ricardo, who is showing a small photo album to Tony.

"You were a cute kid, Anna," says Tony, and he is delighted to see Anna blushing brightly at her father's actions.

_"Pai!" (Dad!)  
_  
She rushes to their side, and grabs the photo album from his hands.

_"Eles não são meus amigos, que vieram pra uma visita. __Eles tão aqui para roubar nossa paz e sossego." (They're not my friends just dropping by for a visit. They are here to disturb our peace and quiet.)  
_  
She looks crossly at Tim and Tony, and takes the album back to the small rack with the TV. She moves some books away and puts the album there, away from curious hands.

"Ahh, Anna, he was just showing your baby pictures. You were cute." Says Tony, smiling at her embarrassment.

Ricardo laughs, and adds, "I just wanted to prove your mom's theory to the gringos."

Tim sits besides Ricardo, glances at Anna, and asks curious, "what theory?"

Anna glares at her father, silently ordering not to tell them anything. Ricardo shakes his head, and laughs, but he starts coughing. "She said…" he wheezes painfully. Tim taps him lightly on his back, and Anna rushes to the kitchen to get a glass of water for her father.

Ricardo coughs again, and takes deep breaths, trying to control the need to cough. He glances at Tim, and says in a low voice, just for his ears, "She said Anna will make pretty babies, she just has to find a good man to convince her to make them."

He starts laughing, despite the painful coughs, and Anna comes back from the kitchen with a glass filled with water. She kneels before her father, giving him the water.

She feels Tim's gaze on her, and she looks at him and frowns, as he is staring at her.

_"Pai, o que você disse pra ele? Por que ele tá me olhando assim?" __(Dad, what did you say to him? Why is he looking at me like that?)"_

_"Apenas plantei a semente de uma idéia, filha. Agora é esperar germinar." __(I just planted the seed of an idea, daughter. Now I have to wait to let it germinate.)"  
_  
Anna frowns at her father, confused, then collects the empty glass and takes it back to the kitchen, not without glancing back at the two Americans.

Tony rubs his hands, thoughtfully "why isn't she married yet?"

Tim glares at Tony, who simply shrugs, "hey, it's a valid question. And we saw a lot of younger women around who seemed to have settled down."

Ricardo nods, agreeing. "Yes, my Anna should have been married a long time ago. But a series of unfortunate events happened, leaving her hurt and alone." He looks at Tony, and sighs, "I also have my share of guilt, as I enjoyed too much the idea of having someone to look after me, and I've made some poor decisions, and lost a lot of money."

Tim leans forward, and Ricardo explains to the gringos his tale.

"You see, I worked in a big office, as an Accountant, and my Anna was a good student, all the way to University. While I worked there I learned English, and gave all the education I could give to Anna. We did not live in the hill then. But I was a fool, and blindly followed orders of my superiors, until they turned against me as I did not want to participate in a corruption scheme. I bailed out, walked away. Few months later, my office was ransacked by the police, and fraud evidence was found in my things. My reputation was destroyed, we lost everything. Car, apartment, finances, everything trying to prove my innocence so I would not be sent to jail."

Anna comes back from the kitchen, and sits on the love seat, besides the TV, and lifts her legs and hugs her knees, in a defensive pose. Ricardo looks at Anna, who stares at the floor silently.

"Anna's fiancé at the time, when he had to face the stigma of the scandal, bailed out. Anna had already finished University, but had to accept a series of low paying jobs as nobody wanted to hire the daughter of the man who created such scandal. We moved to the hill, and I could not work again, as nobody would hire me, despite the fact we proved that I was innocent."

Ricardo sighs, and keeps his story, "It took years before Anna could get a better paying job, but I got sick. Between the three of us, my medicines and the everyday expenses, we can't leave the hill. So we stay, and Anna refuses the attention of the men of the hill, as they are a dangerous bunch, but no man in the city down below wants a girl from the hill. He automatically thinks she's just after his money."

"So she lingers here, between the hill and the city. Not belonging to either world."

Tim looks at Anna, who feels his gaze on her and lifts her eyes from the floor. She immediately stares at the floor again.

"But she travels abroad, that must cost money."

Ricardo smiles, "but my Anna is an artist. Besides working in the office, she makes her art and the money of her art she uses to travel, to create more art."

Tony frowns, and looks at Anna, "couldn't you use this money to move out of here? For a safer place?"

She shakes her head, "the NGO which helps me sell my works deals specifically with people of the hill. If I move out, they are not allowed to showcase my material."

"What kind of art do you do? Are you selling your pictures?" Tim looks at her.

For the first time since their conversation started, Anna smiles. She stands up, and offers her hand to Tim, who doesn't hesitate to take it. Tony, after a second of hesitation, follows the two into the house.

"Come on, it's a little bit more than pictures." She guides him to the small corridor that leads to the rooms, and when she gets to a door, she knocks. They can hear movement inside, and her mother's voice speaking something. Anna answers in Portuguese, then turns to them.

"Close your eyes."

Tim looks at the door, then at her.

"What's behind the door?"

She smiles, "The impact is bigger if you are caught by surprise. Close your eyes."

Both Americans close their eyes. They hear the noise of the door opening, and Anna's voice softly speaking with her mother. Tim feels soft hands on his arm, silently guiding him into the room. Tony follows them, as Anna's mother takes his hand and brings him inside as well.

They go to the middle of the room, and they stand in the middle of it.

"Can we open our eyes yet?" asks Tony, impatiently.

Anna speaks to her mother in Portuguese, and they hear the noise of the window opening, and fresh breeze inundates the room.

"You may open your eyes now."

Tony and Tim open their eyes, and look around surprised. They are inside of a small bedroom; probably Anna's parent's if the size of the bed is any indication, with very little furniture. There is a bed, two bedside tables and a wardrobe with six doors.

But what really was impressive was that the room did not have walls. At least, it seemed not to have walls. All of that thanks to a very smart visual illusion, as all the walls and the ceiling had a blown up shot of an open green field, with gorgeous blue skies as far as the eye could see.

Somehow, Anna had captured the 360 degree effect on her lenses, applied it to the walls in a way that there was no way to guess that you were standing in a room inside of a house. The corners of the room were rounded, so were the junctions between the walls with the ceiling, giving a smooth transition from one image to the other.

The floor has been painted deep green, at the same color of the grass in the picture, and the bed was with green linens and green pillows, all matching. The wardrobe had been carefully painted and then finalized with polish, in order to add the illusion of the room.

You knew that there was a wardrobe against the wall, but at first glance you could not see the piece of furniture, as it blended perfectly with the background.

Both Americans are astonished with the effect, and look at Anna who is standing beside he only window of the room, with its white curtains floating with the breeze. Her mother is beside her, and she is grinning widely at the Americans.

"It's amazing."

"Thanks." Anna says, looking proudly around the room. "Mama said she missed the wide open spaces from Parana, a state in the South of Brazil which is where she grew up. I took the pictures, worked at them with the computer and asked a friend of mine who works in a printer shop to help me do an experiment." She shrugs, "The rest is history."

"How much do you charge to do a room like that?"

She shrugs, touching the wardrobe with its polished painted surface, "It depends on the project. It involves the cost of research, the size of the room, where it will be placed. I usually tackle one of these per month. But I never charge less than one thousand dollars per project."

Tim stares at Anna, impressed, while Tony looks around silently mouthing the price of her art.

"And still, wouldn't that be enough for you to leave the hill?"

Anna shrugs, and goes to the window. She ties the delicate white curtains with a small braided rope which hangs from a pin from the wall.

"Father's medicines are expensive, and a lot that I had saved last year I had to pay for one month hospital stay for him approximately three months ago. I only went to America last month because I had the trip previously planned for more than a year ago, and I had already paid for the flight ticket, trains, hostels and such. I only had to take a little money for the everyday things and for food."

Julia starts speaking, and pointing to the door. She sits on the bed, takes her shoes off, and gets her book. She glares at the youngsters, and the Americans and Anna smile at her.

"I believe we're being gently kicked out of here."

"She wants some quiet time, she told us to play elsewhere."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"So this is your sanctuary."

They are sitting in Anna's room, on two cube storage seats in bright red color. Her room, compared to her parent's, was simple. White walls were littered with artful photographs, one beside the other, making a small patchwork of images. A small single bed, a wardrobe and a bookshelf were the only pieces of furniture on the room.

However, the main decoration in the room were the books. They were on piles along the wall on the corner of the room, under the bed, and overflowing the bookshelf. Every surface was littered with books.

A light breeze is entering the room by its small window. There is a faint scent of ozone in the air. A tropical storm will soon fall.

Anna nods, and reverently touches an old edition of a _Taschen_ Interior design book, which she bought on a used book store in France.

"This is where I hide from the cruel world outside. I don't have much to call my own, but my books and my pictures are my most prized possessions."

Tony stands up, and looks at the small gallery she has on the wall.

"Where is that one?"

He points to a picture of a green valley, with very deep tones, with the slim body of a train cutting the valley in a twisted route, it's metallic body reflecting the afternoon light as if it was made of gold.

"That's outside Rome, Italy. I sat on top of a hill and just watched the breeze move the trees. Later that afternoon the _Trenitalia Roma-Milano_ crossed the valley, and I immortalized it into a picture."

She speaks the Italian word with an Italian accent, and Tim glances at her, surprised. "Do you speak Italian?"

She smiles, "just enough not to go hungry. I also learnt a little French and German, so I could travel from one place to other in Europe without having to depend on a translator."

She points a series of landscapes, the gardens cut in symmetrical order. "These were taken in the Gardens of _Villandry_, that's a castle in France. Those," she points to other pictures of sleepy green hills in different hues in the sunset mist, "in Scotland."

"Wow."

"And this –"

Tim's satellite phone rings, and Anna freezes, glancing at him.

He stands up, glances at Anna with serious eyes, takes the phone and answers.

"Boss?"

_"MN a…)Jn)On ^GH b8zz.."_ shouts Gibbs.

"Boss? I can't hear you."

Anna shakes her head, "the signal is bad in here, we have to go back to the roof."

"Boss, wait a second, the reception is bad here."

Anna and Tim run out of the room, and out of the house. Tim takes the steps two at a time, going to the roof of the house, always with the phone on his ear.

"Boss!"

_"McGeee! I said ..*)ance…Y&(H(.. no."  
_  
He reaches the roof, and goes to the edge, overlooking the hill, "Boss, I can't hear you, could you repeat, please?"

Finally, the reception is loud and clear, and McGee can hear Gibbs speaking.  
_  
"McGee! I said Vance said no. There will be no deal. That she must come alone first, and depending on her testimony, if it is good enough to nail down the bastard they will talk again."  
_  
"But Boss…"

Anna reaches the roof, and stares at Tim's back. His shoulders seem to hunch, as if he is receiving bad news.  
_  
"He was adamant that we are not even sure if her testimony is good, as you guys haven't gotten her witness statement yet. He will not defy the immigration laws for getting someone into witness protection who isn't even American citizen."  
_  
"But Boss…" Tim turns around, and stares sadly at Anna, who is staring at the floor with a frown on her face. Somehow, she feels his gaze on her, and lifts her eyes to him. Her gaze is filled with sadness and resignation, as she had already expected the negative answer.

"Boss, she will die here. She won't go with us, not without her parents, and this place will kill her. One way or the other."

Gibbs hears the desperation in his junior agent's voice, and feels powerless to do anything. They had two dead marines, for apparently no reason, bank accounts with millions of dollars with no explanation on how the money got there, a witness unwilling to testify as she wanted to guarantee a better life for herself and her parents first. And, to top it all, a Director that was unwilling to bend the rules at least a little to ensure safe passage to their witness.

_"Talk to her, explain that the deal is for her, and her alone. We need her testimony, but we can't offer more than what has already been put on the table."  
_  
"She won't accept that."

Gibbs sighs on the phone, _"Then convince her that it is for her best interests to testify. We'll find a way, and I'll keep in touch."  
_  
Gibbs disconnects, leaving Tim staring at his phone. He turns, and sees her staring at him with sad eyes.

"We'll find a way, we can talk with—"

"No." she stares at him, her soulful eyes scorching him, leaving him almost breathless. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Tim."

She starts to walk away, but he hurries to her side, and grabs her arm. She turns violently, and starts slapping his chest barely containing her frustration.

"Let me go!"

"Anna."

"LET ME GO!"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Anna and her guest's movements were not ignored by the hill guards, who were watching with eagle eyes what was happening on the small roof.

When Anna tried to get away and the gringo grabbed her arm, one of the hill guards pointed to the argument. The men jabbed each other on their ribs, and leaned over the window of their hiding place, just to watch what was going on.

The guards of the hill had orders to protect Anna, and two men promptly pointed their weapons at the couple. If the argument escalated, they would take out the gringo without remorse.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"LET ME GO!"

Tim grabs both her arms, and brings her against his chest.

"ANNA!"

She freezes, and stares at him with tearful eyes. His heart constricts as he feels her hopelessness at the situation, and how desperately she wants – no, how she needs – change, but change never comes.

"Anna," he says softly, staring at her.

The weather had changed. Deep dark clouds had covered the sun, and now the light wind that was whispering on the hill had changed to a loud voice of thunder.

Anna's white skirt was billowing on the wind, and her hair fluttering against her face.

"Why do you look at me like that?" she whispers, staring into his face.

"Like what?" he retorts softly, unwilling to shout over the wind.

"As if you… you…" she can't find the word in English, and her brain struggles to conciliate the information with the stimulus she is receiving.

Later on, Tim would describe it as a life changing moment. His memories of those minutes were like snapshots of sensation, sound and images.

The wind was whispering against their skin.

The white color of her blouse contrasting against her bronze skin, and the wind making the blouse cling to her chest, showing the delicious curve of her breasts and leaving her shoulders naked to his gaze.

Her simple white skirt was moving like a flag against her legs.

And her deep brown eyes were staring into his.

He simply leaned down and, his hands still gripping her by her arms, kissed her.

And his life changed after that.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

_"Olha a Anna, mano!"(Look at Anna! Brother!)  
_  
The two hill guards who had pointed their guns to the gringo start laughing, and lower their weapons, as soon as they see the man leaning to kiss Anna, and Anna responding to it enthusiastically.

They lean over the window sill, and start shouting encouragements and whistling at the two kissing lovers, who are completely oblivious to their audience and lost into each other.

_"A Anna e o gringo!"  
_  
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

It was like a dam being opened after the rain season, or a tornado going through a small city downtown. Nothing was the same after it.

As soon as their lips touched, a torrent of sensation and desire took over, and Tim let go of her arms and hugged her against his chest, and Anna circled one arm around his waist and the other crawled up, to support itself on his shoulder and to easily access his neck.

Tim devoured her mouth, delighted at the moan she can't hold back. Her delicate fingers claw on his shoulder at the same time her legs buckle, and he immediately grabs her by her waist, bringing her against his body and kneels on the roof, without stopping the kiss.

Anna is starting to feel lightheaded. She leans her head to the left. Tim immediately starts dropping kisses on her neck, and he bites her shoulder and licks the faint sweat, bringing a shudder out of her. She is incapable to control the reactions of her body towards the gringo, and she feels a fluttering in her womb that is unlike anything she has ever felt.

Lightening crosses the sky, and the roar of thunder cracks over the hill, breaking the spell they were under and making Anna jump out of Tim's arms. They stared at each other for a whole minute, he on his knees with a raging hard on that was making him extremely uncomfortable, and she on her shaking legs barely holding her standing.

Tim sees that, for some reason, she is terrified of him.

Tim takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself, "Anna, I'm sorr—"

Thunder covers his empty apology, making both of them jump with the proximity of it. She turns around, and runs to the stairs, without looking back.

"Anna!" Tim shouts over the sound of the wind, but she is already gone.

He stands up, but he is unsure if he should follow her or not.

He looks at the city below, and runs a shaking hand through his hair.

His frustration mounts to unbearable levels, and he leans over himself a little, supporting his hands on his knees and taking deep breaths trying to calm down his heart rate and for his arousal to subside.

"Goddamit!"

He closes his eyes, cursing himself for being so foolish. He was supposed to be convincing her to trust him, not attacking her like a madman. It's no surprise that she was terrified of him.

He hears laughter and cat calls, and he opens his eyes and further up in the hill, he sees the guards of the hill cheering at him and laughing. He blushes when he realizes that he attacked Anna right before them, and they saw everything.

He stands up, and the men are still cheering. Between them, he sees a man different from the others. He stands with his lean muscular arms folded, transpiring barely restrained power. His black hair was neatly cut and combed, and he had a goatee covering his face. He is dressed in a white polo shirt and jeans, and his sun glasses are over his head. His tanned skin bespoke of countless hours in the sun, but it was the sarcastic smile in his lips that bothered Tim.

One of the guards of the hill leans over the window sill of the house he's using as watchtower, and shouts at Tim something he doesn't understand, but he kind of guess its meaning.

_"Vai atrás dela, mané. Ta esperando o que?"(Go after her, you idiot. __What are you waiting for?)  
_  
Tim smiles embarrassed at the men, and starts taking deep breaths, ordering his own body to calm down. It would not be good to go back to the house with a hard on. Ricardo certainly would look at him with those knowing eyes and smirk, as he had been dropping hints the whole time since they arrived in the house.

As soon as he can walk without embarrassing himself, he slowly goes to the stairs and returns to the house.

As he arrives there, he finds Anna talking in very fast Portuguese with her father, who seems to be trying to calm her down. As soon as she feels his presence in the room, she turns at him and stares at him with mistrust.

You idiot, you deserve that, thinks McGee.

"How did it go?" Tony asks as he approaches him, and he throws another glance at Anna who is speaking again with her father in Portuguese.

"Bad. Vance didn't bulge, and Gibbs still wants us to convince her to go."

Tim stares at Anna, who know turns to him and stares right back, with her arms folded.

"And what did you do to her?" Tony looks at his Probie and notices the glazed eyes and the messed up hair. He also didn't miss the wild looks in Anna, and a very clear hickey on her neck, which her long brown hair could not hide.

Timothy glances frustrated at Tony, who becomes serious, grabs his arm and drags him closer to the door.

"What the hell were you thinking? Are you nuts?" Tony hisses at him, and throws a glance at the fuming brunette staring daggers at them. "She can barely stand us being close by, and you hit on her? Do you have a death wish?"

"No! I didn't plan it, ok?" says Tim, frustrated.

Anna approaches them, and says in a serious voice, "The rain comes, you better leave now. Later, the stairs will be dangerous and you will have difficulty to reach the city."

"Anna," Tim takes a step towards her, and looks at her face, but she is serious now, and she refuses to meet his eyes. "Are you sure we can't convince you to change your mind?"

She looks at him, "I'm not going with you, not without my parents. And that's my final decision."

Her father starts speaking, and Anna turns to him and starts to speak, agitatedly.

"Let us…" Tim goes closer to Anna, and looks at Ricardo, "tell her that she's in danger, that she should accept our offer of protection."

Ricardo shakes his head, resigned, and keeps talking with Anna, who lifts her hand in a universally known gesture that means that her father should stop talking. She glares at him, then starts speaking again, her voice getting emotional as she speaks to her father.

She looks at Tim and Tony, "You better leave, you are not welcome here anymore."

She grabs her keys, getting ready to leave, but Ricardo approaches Anna and Tim and grabs her hand. Anna looks at him, while he speaks to her, in a small passionate speech.

The two Americans can't understand what he is saying but whatever he is saying brings tears to Anna's eyes.

Ricardo then stretches his hand and grabs Tim's hand, and in a very poignant gesture, puts Anna's hand on Tim's bigger one, all the time speaking and pointing to himself and Julia.

Anna shakes her head, but her father keeps talking and he settles his hand over Anna's and Tim's hands, silently giving his blessing for her to go with the American.

Anna stares at her father with tears silently running down her face, then looks at their joined hands.

Tim squeezes her hand, and she looks up, and Tim feels his heart breaking as he sees the complete misery in her eyes. However, she gathers her iron will from the deep well somewhere in her soul, and stiffens her resolve. Her eyes become hard, and he figures out that despite her father's emotional speech, she hasn't changed her mind.

_"Pai, eu não vou deixar vocês sozinhos. Não vou." (Dad, I'm not leaving you alone. __I'm not going.) _She says, looking at her father, who sighs and looks at Tim, shaking his head.

She takes her hand out of Tim's hand, who looks at her sadly. She points to the door, silently ordering them out.

"I'm sorry, son, I've tried," says Ricardo, looking at Tim.

Tim shakes his head, and gives his hand to Ricardo to shake, "We appreciate your attempt, and we are grateful for your warm welcome in your home."

Ricardo looks the stretched hand, shakes his head and approaches Tim, signaling that he should lean down. Both men hug firmly, that awkward hug that two men usually exchange, with strong taps on the backs. Just that, in Tim's case, he was very careful as he had to lean down to hug the short frail figure of Anna's father, and when he felt the skinny arms around his shoulder, and the frail bones under his hand, Ricardo held him down and whispered something only for his ears.

"Take care of her for me, son. I give you my blessing." Tim freezes, but tries not to let his facial expressions betray what her father has done as Anna is looking at the two men with mistrust.

Ricardo releases Tim, and also hugs Tony, who also is very careful when hugging him.

Julia approaches Tim, says something to him in Portuguese that for some reason makes Anna moan in embarrassment. Ricardo chuckles, and Anna hides her face on her hands, and Tim just looks from one to the other with a small smile on his face.

He has no idea what she said, but if Anna's burning blush is any indication, it must be something good.

Julia hugs him, kisses both his cheeks, then goes to Tony, who promptly opens his arms and hugs this lovely lady, who chatters away smiling. She keeps talking, touches his firm abdomen, and makes eating motions with her hand again, and Tony laughs.

Anna shakes her head, and translates, "Mom said that you are always welcome to our house, as you are a good guest. You eat everything she puts on the table."

Tony and Tim chuckle, and Tony answers, "Well, what can I do? Your mother is a great cook."

He then turns to Julia, and gallantly kisses her hand, "It was a pleasure, Julia."

She blushes, and pushes him lightly on his shoulder. She says something to Anna, and rushes to the kitchen, leaving the two Americans confused. Anna just shakes her head at her mother's antics, who comes back with two plastic pots with lids, and gives one to each American.

"It is some desert, for later. Mom said that you liked so much her passion fruit mousse that she forgot we also had _Canjica_ in the fridge."

"What?" Tim looks down at the pot, and Julia opens the lid, showing a thick white paste on the pots.

"_Canjica_, it is a white corn dish with milk, sugar, peanuts, coconut milk and condensed milk. It is very good and healthy."

"Ah," Tim frowns, as the texture seems a little bit off, but Tony looks at it interested.

"Thanks again for your hospitality." He says to Julia, who smiles at him.

Anna goes to the door, and opens it. The wind is blowing strong now.

"We have to go, the rain comes."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They go silently through the narrow streets of the _favela_, overstepping the garbage thrown on the floor. The faint smell of food being prepared could be felt, and somewhere up to the left they could hear funk music being played very loudly.

They get closer to the entrance of the hill, and Anna again greets the guards posted at the door, lazily sitting playing cards.

Tony and Tim salute them silently with a nod of their head, and for some reason they smile brightly at them and make an ok sign for him. Tim frowns at them, but they point at Anna and wiggle their eyebrows, and he mentally slaps himself, remembering of the guards uphill that saw him kissing Anna.

Apparently, news runs fast in the hill.

They reach the street level, and walks towards the bus stop which is further down. No taxis dare drive so close to the hill.

Anna and the Americans walk two blocks down, and stop before the gates of a small simple yellow house with several plant pots in front of it, and a small Fiat Uno and a motorcycle in the garage. Anna rings the bell, and a mix breed dog comes running to her excitedly, barking at her.

Anna murmurs at him, and the dog lays on the floor behind the gate, begging her to rub his belly.

"Why are we here?" asks Tony.

"I'm going to ask Fernando to take you downtown. He has a car, and it's not safe for you two go alone by bus at this hour."

She shouts for the house owner, who finally appears only with surfer shorts and no shirt on. They talk for some minutes, and she points to the two Americans. The man looks at them, nods and goes back to the house.

She turns to them, "he agreed to take you back. It's safer this way."

Anna glances at Tim, who has been silently looking at her since they left her parent's home.

"What are you going to do tomorrow?" he asks softly.

She shrugs, "I'm going to the church, I guess. Nothing important comes to my mind."

He nods, "Come spend the day with us. We'll talk, give us another chance to convince you to come with us."

She looks at him, and sighs, "I don't know."

"Ah, come on, Anna!" says Tony, getting enthusiastic with the idea. "We're going to the beach tomorrow. You like the beach, don't you? Just hang around with us, translate for us wherever we go, it will be fun."

She studies both of them for a moment, and her friend comes out of the house, now with a t-shirt on and his car keys on his hand. He starts speaking in Portuguese with Anna, and she answers back, while he opens the gate so he can take the car out.

The dog immediately runs to Anna, who laughs and plays with the excited puppy.

"Are you meeting with us tomorrow Anna?" he asks, hopeful.

She rubs the dog behind the ears, and looks at them, "You are staying in Copacabana Palace Hotel, are you not?"

"Yes, we are," answers Tony, and he steps out of the way as Anna's friend starts the car and moves the car out of the garage.

"Copacabana is a beautiful beach, but we better arrive early otherwise we won't find a good spot. 7:30 am in the sand before your hotel is ok for you?"

"That early?" Tim frowns, as he sees no reason to rush to the sand where he would certainly stay most of the time under the umbrella.

She laughs a little, "Believe me, we will stay there only until 10 am. Much later than that, it will be too hot for your skin, and I don't want you getting sunburn."

"7:30 am then." Says Tony, as he sees Anna's friend waiting patiently for them to enter the car.

Anna speaks to Fernando, giving the address of their hotel, then turns to the two agents.

"See you tomorrow." She says softly.

Tony smiles, and enters the small car, and Tim stays behind, staring at Anna.

"Anna," he starts, but she shakes her head.

"Go, Tim. I'll see you tomorrow."

They stare at each other, and it starts raining, huge fat drops of water. He has to physically restrain himself, before he grabs her and put her in the car with them, taking her to their hotel, where he could keep an eye on her, keep her safe.

But she refused their protection, and she had to go back to the hill.

"You won't bail, will you?" he asks, his hair plastered against his head, "you will meet us tomorrow."

She studies his face, her clothes becoming wet with rain. "I will be there."

The rain becomes stronger, the cacophony of the drops falling over the roofs becoming a roar of a deluge. They had to leave before the water levels rise and the streets become impossible to drive through.

"Go," she says softly, ordering him to leave.

He studies her face, trying to find anything that might even hint that she had changed her mind. He nods sadly, enters the car, and Fernando starts driving away. She stays in the rain, in the middle of the road, staring the Fiat Uno driving away down the road, and warm water rain slides over her skin.

Tim turns on the seat, and the last image he has burned on his retina is Anna, with a sad expression on her face staring at their departing car, her white clothes sticking to her body as the rain poured over her.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Anna runs up the stairs of the _favela_, ignoring the garbage being dragged with the water down the hill. Rain is dangerous in a place like that, as there is no official drainage system, and the water runs like a torrent through the narrow streets.

She jumps a plastic bottle someone left on the floor, and she stops on one of the levels of the stairs, and she can't help the deep felt sobs she feels rising from her chest. Her tears mingle with the rain water, and she feels an emotional pain that is almost physical.

Her chest hurts. Her head hurts. But there is no medicine to the pain she is going through, nothing the doctors could do for her. Her hopelessness with her situation is like the rain, unstoppable and inevitable, dragging her thoughts down with the same force that the water moved the trash down the stairs, like a small waterfall filled with detritus.

She had been offered a chance of leaving this place, filled of death and pain and despair, but she couldn't leave her beloved parents behind. They won't last without her in this place. Abandoning them would be the equivalent of cutting one part of herself without painkillers and leaving the wound raw, just to be infected.

And she would be walking blindly in a situation almost as dangerous as here, as despite what they said and the apparent good will of the Americans, she still didn't trust them with her life. They might be working for the killers back in America. She didn't know them. She didn't trust them.

She grabs her head in agony, as thoughts torture her incessantly, and she struggles with her need to believe in something. But she had learnt the hard way that nothing is like it seems, and even the most angelical face can hide a demon behind it.

When her handsome fiancé left her, she had been in the lowest point of low. Her father's reputation had been slandered in national television, and everywhere they went people pointed to them and whispered. She ran to him, begging for solace and for a welcoming shoulder to cry on, and was received with harsh words and orders never to look for him again.

She stayed in bed crying for a week, then she stood up, washed her face and faced life. She sold everything the family owned, with the help of one of her father's friends, hired the best lawyer she could afford. They worked day and night, but found evidence that her father was innocent, and his release from prison with a _habeas corpus_ and prosecuted the rightful criminals.

But the damage had already been done. Where there is smoke, there is fire. No one would hire him anymore, even with the charges dropped.

They couldn't afford the apartment anymore, then Anna swallowed her pride and found this house in the _favela_ to live. There was a good church community nearby, and several church going members lived around, and they promised to look after her mother while she was alone at the house, while Anna looked for a job.

They cut down all expenses, and settled down living simple. Anna would nod to the drug dealers and murderers that lived around them, ignoring their crimes as they happened before her own eyes, but never mixed with them.

They knew she did not mix with them, but she also never mentioned to anyone what she saw happening into the streets of the hill.

Then life went by.

Now these strangers come to her life, to her home, asking her to care again. Care about the poor bastard who was killed in DC.

It's not her problem. If he died, it's his problem, not hers. She won't help, as people who are snitches in her world die horrible deaths.

And she could not die. She had to take care of her parents.

But that didn't stop the green eyed man from lighting a spark of hope in her chest, offering a small chance of freedom for all of them. Just to destroy it in few words.

She should never have believed him.

Then he... oh God! He kissed her! Damn man! What gave him the right to touch her?

She starts fuming, and rushes the last steps, and enters her house, ignoring the looks of her parents and running straight to the bathroom. She takes the wet clothes and drops them on the floor, and rushes to the small shower. She turns it on and grabs a bath sponge and rubs her skin, trying vainly to rub away the feeling of his hands on her skin, and the breath of his mouth against her neck.

She feels her knees shaking, and rubs harder, getting mad at herself for falling so easily into his trap.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid Anna.  
_  
She sobs, as she feels breasts responding to the memory, and the now familiar warmth spreading from her belly to all over body. She supports one hand against the cement wall, and lets her sorrowful tears mix with the shower water, and silently curses her weak character.

She won't commit the same mistake again, and be deceived by sweet words and a pretty face.

She will meet them tomorrow, and tell them to go back to America.

Without her.


	9. Time to step on a Jaca

_**Chapter 9: Time to step on a Jaca**_

_**Portuguese expression: Pisar na Jaca**_  
_**Literal Translation: Stepping on a Jaca (Brazilian tropical fruit with a very gummy consistency.)**_  
_**Meaning: Let's go PARTY UHUUUUU! Basically, it is getting drunk, so drunk that you have no idea of the scandal you are creating. Go have fun with no limits.**_

_**Copacabana Beach**__**  
Sunday, 7:30**_

Sunday starts with the sun shining brightly over Rio and as they had told Anna the day before, they go to the beach to see the women in tiny bikinis in Copacabana.

Tim stays under an umbrella, provided by their hotel, as the sun is too hot for his white skin. He leathered himself with several layers of sunscreen, kept his shirt on and, even under the big umbrella he could feel his skin burning only in the steam. The air felt like he was in a huge pressure cooker, the steam and the heat cooking him from inside out. He probably would look like a lobster when he went home.

Tony, however, loves the heat and is milking as much as possible of the experience. He puts a generous quantity of sunscreen on his hand and spreads over his skin, and he simply smiles at the appreciative glances from the ladies doing their walk on the sand throw to his defined muscles.

"McGee, this is Rio. The real Rio de Janeiro. The Sun burning brightly over us. The sea calling my name." A blonde girl with very big boobs and an inversely sized bikini walks past him. She looks back and smiles at him, which he reciprocates. "Ah, the girls from Ipanema."

He throws his sunscreen at Tim, who yelps as it hits his head.

"I'm going swimming. Stay here, McLobster."

Tony starts running towards the water and the girl who was waiting for him. He smiles and starts talking with her.

"Be careful Tony!" Tim shouts, and grabs a book and starts reading it.

Tony jumps in the water and starts swimming, the blonde jumps in the water with him.

"Is this seat taken?"

"There is no seat, just sand," Tim says as he closes his book and turns to the origin of the voice. He freezes when he sees legs.

Endless tanned firm legs, which end in a tiny white triangle strategically placed, crowned by smooth skin of a perfect belly with a small piercing on the belly button and big, firm breasts in white triangles covering the most important parts.

"Ah uh…"

"I've asked if I may seat beside you?"

Tim looks up to the face, and is transfixed that the owner of those endless bronze legs is Anna.

Anna in a white bikini.

Anna in a very, very tiny white bikini.

She smiles shyly, and drops her backpack on the floor, and looks for her beach towel in her things to cover the hot sand.

"Stare all you want, but haven't you had an overdose of semi naked women yet? There are plenty of those around."

Tim's brain is still frozen, and he doesn't answers. His brain is too busy trying to process Anna's boobs bouncing as she kneels on the hot sand and leans down, spreading her towel over the sand. She also digs into her backpack and takes sunglasses, a small book and a sunscreen bottle. She glances at him and smiles sitting on the beach towel.

"Hi," she waves at his face, but doesn't get any response from him, as he's flabbergasted. He tries, really tries, but his eyes automatically go down to her breasts.

"My face is here," she snaps her fingers on his face, and then points to her own face, as she sees him staring at her boobs.

"Ah, sorry, I mean, I just that … ahh…."

She laughs, her laughter crystalline to his ears.

"Ok, it happens a lot."

"It does?"

She smiles, grabs her sunscreen and starts applying it on her skin, rubbing on the exposed flesh and unconsciously attracting his eyes to the areas she's rubbing. She starts on her legs.

"Family genetics, I've had big boobs since I was seventeen. Men tend to stare."

She starts rubbing sunscreen on her belly, and McGee swallows, and he feels himself responding to the visual stimulation.

"Ah… Sorry. I mean, not that I'm sorry that you have big boobs, just that I'm sorry that men stare, or… argh..." His mind is taking a while to follow the conversation.

She smiles and he blushes even deeper. She rubs some sunscreen on her chest, and down her arms, and studies his face for a moment.

She points to his face, "you should put more sunscreen, you're getting red on the face."

"Really?" He touches his face, and feels it burning. He's just not sure if it is because of the sun or because of his reaction to her.

"Yep." She nods, and keeps rubbing sunscreen on herself. Now on her neck and as far as she can reach on her shoulders.

Tim looks for his own sunscreen 50 in his own things, gets it and starts applying it to his own face. She observes him for a moment.

"You have some here," she points to his chin.

"Here?" he rubs his face and makes an even bigger mess. He looks like a clown with white strikes of cream irregularly spread on his face.

"No," she shakes her head, sits on her folded legs then leans towards him, her tanned body just a couple of inches from his face. "Close your eyes."

Tim closes his eyes, and he feels her soft hands rubbing the sunscreen on his skin, covering his neck and even the tip of his ears, rubbing all over. If he breathes very deep, he can feel the faint smell of sunscreen on her skin, mixed with sweat and cinnamon.

He starts breathing deeper, his body betraying his intentions. He leans his head back so she can have better access to his face and neck Suddenly her hands are gone.

He opens her eyes, and looks up to her, who is kneeling before him with clouded eyes. She studies his face attentively, as if looking for something she cannot define. He looks at her, and he has to physically restrain himself before he … he…

"What's happening here?"

Tony's voice breaks whatever moment they had going. Tim gulps and sits back under the umbrella, and she sits back on her beach towel.

"Ah… uhm…"

"I was just applying sunscreen on him. He's very white and pale, he burns easy."

She gets her own sunscreen and spreads on her face, rubbing it in.

Tim looks hurt at her, and sees her applying more sunscreen on the skin of her shoulders, and he loses his will to fight.

"Yep, his new nickname will be McSnowWhite."

"Very funny Tony."

Tony sits down on the sand in the sun, still wet from the water. He shakes his head and droplets of water fly on Anna and Tim.

Tim looks at Tony's shoulders that are starting to burn, "You'd better stay under the umbrella too, Tony, it's very hot."

"Nahhh . I like the heat."

"It is very hot, you should heed your friend's advice. You really don't want sunburn."

Tony leers at her, as she is still putting sunscreen on, now on the skin of her boobs that the bikini did not cover.

"Want some help to rub it on your back?"

She glances at him, thinks for a moment, and shrugs, "Sure."

She turns, fixes her bikini over the last mark she already had and lays down on the towel. Tony wiggles his eyebrows to Tim and moves to get her sunscreen from her hands.

She takes it out of his reach, and says without looking at him, "touch me in an inappropriate manner and I will break your neck and throw your earthly remains to the sharks."

"Ah, not even—"

"Don't tempt me, Tony."

He gulps, gets the sunscreen from her hand, gets a good portion of it, and rubs on her back.

"You're evil."

"Ha, you have no idea." She sighs, as he massages the muscles on her back.

"When are you leaving?" she says, her head on her arms as Tony rubs the sunscreen lower.

"Tomorrow. Are you sure you don't want to come with us? We can protect you."

She shakes her head sadly, sighing as Tony massages a particularly tense spot.

"I have my family here. Responsibilities. I can't leave them behind, and you won't be able to help me to bring them to America."

"No, we won't. The deal was just for you."

She nods. She waits until Tony spreads evenly down her back and stops him before he gets too tempted to go down south.

"Well, I already imagined that." She stands up, puts her sunscreen away and thanks Tony.

"I gotta swim a little. Would you watch my bag? My camera is in there."

"Sure, McWhite doesn't like swimming."

"Hahaha, very funny Tony."

She stands up and runs to the water, leaving the two Americans to stare at her body transfixed.

Tony shakes his head slowly, dazed, "There's a God."

"Yeah," McGee answers as they see her taking a dive into the surf, "and He's Brazilian."

They look at each other and Tony smiles saucily, standing up and wiping the sand from his swimming trunks, "Watch our things!"

He runs towards the water and jumps the waves until he is beside Anna, who promptly splashes him. He laughs and splashes back, which starts a small water battle on the waves. When she sees she can't win, she jumps on his shoulders and forces him under the water, and swims away when he comes back to the surface sputtering water. She laughs and tries to escape, as he tries to do the same for her.

"Great friend you are." Tim mutters, sitting under the umbrella protecting himself from the sun.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"How do you like Brazil so far?"

Anna takes another gulp on her coconut water, as they walk down the pedestrian sidewalk by Avenida Atlantica. They had washed out the sand of their bodies on one of the several showers strategically placed on the beach, and Anna had put her clothes on, which they found out she was carrying in her backpack along with her camera, over her dry bikini.

Tony takes another gulp from his coconut water, and stares at one girl go goes rollerblading in just a sports top and tiny shorts. He turns as she goes by, and he starts walking backwards to stare at her backside.

Tim rolls his eyes, and Anna just shakes her head at him.

"It's been eventful so far. We've been kidnapped, robbed, held at gunpoint, almost shot at, left to simmer at the police department for hours, and almost died of food poisoning." Tim frowns, and adds, almost on an afterthought, "all of that in our first forty-eight hours here."

Anna stares at Tim for some seconds, before she stops and starts laughing hysterically. Tears come up on her eyes, and she has to support her hand on his shoulder, as she bows and roars like a madwoman.

_"Ai meu Deus. Ai meu Deus."_ She tries to be serious again, but she looks at his face and his adorable confused expression, then starts laughing again.

"That's not funny." He says, biting his lips not to smile.

"It' not…funny," He insists, but she still laughing and now tears running down her face.

Tony looks at her and smiles. Tim also is starting to be infected with her laughter. She wipes her tears.

"It's not funny," Tony says, and starts laughing with her. Tim starts chuckling, and soon the three of them are laughing like loonies in the middle of the sidewalk.

"You are the most…" she pauses, as she wipes her face "unlucky bastards I've ever met in my entire life."

"Hey, it's not our fault."

"I know, I know."

She shakes her head and keeps walking, as she grabs each American by their arms.

"Do you guys wanna see Rio like a native?"

Tim shakes his head, "we were supposed to be convincing you to come with us, not gallivanting around the city."

Tony is interested at the offer, "Come on, Tim, we're stuck here until Monday anyway, until we get our new passports. We could go around, see the sights, the wooooomeeeeen…" Tony's gaze is fixed in two beautiful ladies who are jogging, both of them smile as they pass by him.

"Come on, man, that's our chance, and Anna knows the places, don't you, Anna?" Tony looks pleading at Anna, who smiles at Tony.

"I can show you a Rio that is not in the guide books. And I would translate for you wherever you go."

Tim stops to throw his empty coconut in a trash can, wipes his hands on his jeans and puts his hands on his pockets, "I don't know."

"Come on, it will be fun." She says with a boyish smile.

He stares at her face for a moment.

"Ok, but no funny business."

She snickers, and turns to Tony, "but there is only one condition."

"What condition?"

"I knew there was a catch somewhere…" murmurs Tim.

She shakes her head, her long curly hair hitting her shoulders, "nothing like that. It's just…"

She blushes, and both men look at each other and then at her.

"What?"

She looks at Tim in his eyes, sighs and says sincerely. "I'm broke. Flat broke. I just have the money to go back home by bus. You would have to pay for entry tickets where I take you."

Tim looks in her eyes, and she forces herself to withstand his scrutiny. He sees her sincerity, and nods, "I don't see a problem with that. Do you Tony?"

"Not at all. So, where to, miss?"

Her face splits in a big grin, and she grabs both of their hands and drags them to the sidewalk. She waves for a taxi excitedly, while the two men just stare at her back.

"TAXI!"


	10. Tony interruptus

**_Chapter 10: Tony interruptus_**

**_Expression in latim: Coitus interruptus  
Meaning: Coitus interruptus, also known as withdrawal or the pull-out method, is a birth-control technique in which a man withdraws his penis from a woman prior to ejaculation during intercourse, with the semen being ejaculated away from the vagina._**

**_Tim McGee's variation: Tony interruptus_**  
**_Meaning: Tony's innate ability to break the mood whenever there is a mood in Tim's love life, making it impossible for Tim to get lucky._**

As the sun is boiling hot, she takes them first to the _Confeitaria Colombo_, with its French windows, Belle époque style balconies and mouth watering sweets. They are introduced to Brazilian coffee, the real stuff, and gorge themselves with sweets and cakes, one more tempting than the other.

Later, they hop in another taxi and drive to the _Archs of Lapa_, a series of aqueducts built in the beginning of the twentieth century to supply the city with water. They ride the historical bond that now runs over the Arches, then take pictures in front of it. Anna laughs delighted at the poses Tony makes, and also takes pictures of Tim, despite his attempts not to appear in the pictures.

She then takes them to the Selarón stairs, with its 215 steps in the colors green, blue, white and yellow, which were decorated by Spanish artist Selarón. They make poses on it, sitting and going up and down, and Anna laughs and takes pictures of them in all poses and faces.

Sometimes, they would take the camera out of her hands, and take pictures of her too.

As the day cools down, they take another taxi, and go all the way to the Corcovado, and take pictures with the Christ. Tony makes several poses with his arms open, and Anna records everything with her camera.

Tim just smiles and shakes his head at his friend's enthusiasm. He really is milking it all, as he is really happy with all the touristic thing Anna is taking them. Anna notices him staring at the city several feet below, turns her camera and start taking pictures of him.

"Please, I don't like taking pictures."

She keeps clicking.

"Come on!"

She simply smiles, and ignores him.

"Gimme the camera."

She keeps clicking and he starts advancing towards her, with a smile on his face.

"Gimme the camera."

She shouts a girly scream, and takes off running towards the stairs when he runs after her, struggling with the crowd to reach her. She runs down the steps, and when she gets to the lower level she takes pictures of him trying to go through the thongs of tourists, all going in the opposite direction, up to the Christ statue.

He is finally able to go through, and she tries to take off again, but he grabs her by her waist, and she squeals laughing.

He grabs the camera, and she turns on his arms, "Come on!"

"Gimme that."

"No," she pouts, smiling at him. She is breathing rapidly, and he grabs her hand where her camera is with one hand, at the same time he brings her body against his with the other and presses her against one of the stone banisters of the huge stairs that go all the way to the Christ monument.

"I want to delete the pictures you…" he looks down at her, and finally realizes the intimate position they are.

She is looking at him with smiling eyes, but her smile fades a little when one of his legs end up between her denim clad legs, the friction bringing a shiver to her body. He glances down at her chest, which at each breath she took touches his, and he realizes he is in trouble.

His eyes go back to her face, sees her biting her fat lower lip, and he immediately feels himself responding to her gesture. Her eyes become huge, as she feels him getting hard against her belly.

"Ahh…"he gulps and he feels himself leaning towards her and…

"GUYS, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS," shouts Tony, and both jump apart as if burned.

Anna stares at the floor, blushing brightly under her tan, and Tim runs a shaking hand through his hair, silently ordering his body to calm down. He silently returns her camera, and she murmurs her thanks to him, without looking up from the floor.

"I won't take pictures of you again."

"No, it's ok, just…" she looks up at him, and he gulps as she stares at him, "just—"

"Guys!"

"We're coming, Tony!" shouts Tim, and he grimaces when Anna stares at him with huge eyes, then turns around and goes running up the stairs towards Tony.

"Smooth, McGee, very smooth!" he mutters to himself, and climbs the stairs back up, two steps at a time. Anna stands besides Tony, who is pointing to something floating in the air down close to the beach. She is careful of putting Tony between herself and him, and he feels hurt by her actions.

"Look, McGee! They're flying!"

Tim looks where he is pointing, and indeed several paragliders are silently floating on the air, over the beach below.

"Man, that's so cool. Can we do that?" he turns to Anna, who is now smiling again.

"Sure, let's go, we have much to see."

She walks away, and the two Americans follow her towards the cable train that will take them down the mountain.

Once they are back in the city, she takes them to the Sao Bento Monastery, built in the Seventeenth Century, then to some other old churches that were dotted in the city.

She keeps documenting their trip, but she is not so enthusiastic about taking Tim's portraits, and he is a little bit hurt for that.

After the third Catholic Church they visited, Tony asks to see something different. She stops and thinks, then she decides their next stop.

"Come on," she says, dragging Tim and Tony by their hands through the streets of Downtown Rio.

"Where are we going?"

"To my cathedral."

They walk some few blocks until they arrive to a typical Portuguese building right in downtown Rio. It is Sunday and the building is closed, but Anna talks with the doorkeeper in Portuguese for some minutes and he allows her to come inside, as he has known her since she was a little girl and she would visit the house with her father.

They enter a dark room, which has a mild smell of mold in the air. The atmosphere is very dry when compared with the melting heat from outside, and the humming of air conditioning could be heard, as the room was several degrees cooler than outside. They go further, and the corridor ends up in an open hall surrounded by ornate wooden balconies, and on each floor they could see books. Several books, probably hundreds of books neatly organized on wooden shelves, delicately cut in Brazilian wood.

"Where are we?" Tony looks at the walls in intricate patterns of wood.

"We are in the _Real Gabinete Português de Leitura_. Its name can be roughly translated into the _Royal Portuguese Reading Room_."

They enter the main room, and look up, and are awed at the works of art on the walls, and the rococo designs everywhere they set their eyes. The balconies had banisters delicately decorated in wood, and the ceiling had several paintings of famous writers of the Portuguese Literature.

"It's beautiful."

"I know, it is one of the oldest libraries built in Brazil, and also one of the most beautiful, being compared to several in Europe due to the detailed works of art in every column and balcony."

They move silently through the corridors, in reverence to the knowledge resting on the pages of the old books that are laid to rest in that place. The interior of the main hall had a glass ceiling, with a very beautiful white and blue design made of glass, through which the light filtered giving an ethereal air to the whole room.

Tony goes down the hall to investigate the next room, while Tim and Anna stay staring at the ceiling.

"This place never gets old to me."

He glances at her, and sees her with her eyes closed, silently absorbing the atmosphere of the place. Under the soft light coming from the colored glass, she looks like a siren, a mythical creature, completely in peace with herself.

"How long have you been coming here?"

She lowers her head and looks at him, her dark brown eyes serious, "since I was a little girl. Father was an accountant, but his first passion was books. All of them. All types. Poetry, Portuguese Literature. American Literature. French Literature. Everything dealing with imagination intrigued him."

She walks to one of the shelves and slides her fingers over the tomes. On it, several centuries worth of old books were on the shelves.

"He infected me with his passion, so I studied Languages and Literature at College. I initially planned to be a teacher, but I ended up working in an office, then another office. I never set foot in a classroom to teach."

She smiles at him and shakes her head, "Literature doesn't make money in Brazil, unless it is self help books or some crappy books with no plot in it. The deep sorrowful poets of old are here, their works silently waiting for someone to awaken them again."

He looks at her as she touches another bookcase reverently. This is a totally different Anna from the one who was so aggressive to them the day before. She was sweet and enchanting, and totally fascinating to him.

He studies her from up and down, her top clinging to her curvaceous form, her firm breasts tugging the diaphanous cloth up. Her hips were encased in a low cut jeans, which hugged her legs in an enticing way.

"Beautiful."

She turns her head to look at him, and leans against one of the ornate columns.

"Do you have a favorite author?"

"I have many. Fernando Pessoa, Clarice Lispector, Machado de Assis, all of them fill these walls with their works. But my favorite is still Camões."

"Anything you remember from him?"

She smiles, closes her eyes and starts singing the _Sonnet of Love_ by Camões in the melody of the song by Renato Russo.

_Amor é fogo que arde sem se ver,  
é ferida que dói, e não se sente;  
é um contentamento descontente,  
é dor que desatina sem doer._

_É um não querer mais que bem querer;_  
_é um andar solitário entre a gente;_  
_é nunca contentar-se de contente;_  
_é um cuidar que ganha em se perder._

_É querer estar preso por vontade;_  
_é servir a quem vence, o vencedor;_  
_é ter com quem nos mata, lealdade._

_Mas como causar pode seu favor_  
_nos corações humanos amizade,_  
_se tão contrário a si é o mesmo Amor?_

Tim stares at her for a moment in silence, as the words linger in the room. She leans her head to the side, her long curly hair softly falling over her shoulder. One of its curls stubbornly insists to fall over her face, and she lifts her hand to move it away. The movement makes her breasts to rise, and Tim holds his breath for a moment at the scene.

"I have no idea what you said, but it sounds beautiful."

She smiles at him, and translate the verses of the great Portuguese poet, pausing now and then as the words take a while to come to her mind.

_Love is fire that burns that we cannot see  
It's a wound that hurts, but we do not feel it  
It's a joyful unhappiness  
It's pain that roll over us, without hurting us_

_It's not to desire much more than wishing well to someone_  
_It's to walk lonely even when surrounded by people_  
_It's never be satisfied in being only satisfied_  
_And being aware that you win whenever you lose yourself_

_It's willingly be chained_  
_It's serving the one who wins, the winner_  
_And to the one who kills you be faithful_

_But how such thing can cause favor_  
_and in human hearts find friendship_  
_if it is so contrary to itself, this love._

While she translated the poem, he had slowed approached her position leaning against the column. When she finishes, he is standing before her, looking down at her as she pronounces the poet's words that resound deeply in his heart.

She studies his face with the same care he studies hers. Both are breathing deeply, staring at each other, unwilling to dispel the moment they were in. His eyes are attracted to her lips, as she nervously licks them, and she starts trembling when he lifts one of his to touch her arm.

"HEY GUYS" Tony calls them out, and they jump apart as if burned.

Tim runs a trembling hand through his hair, and glances at Anna whose face is now serious again.

Gone is the nymph, back is their tour guide.

"Hi Tony, what did you find?" she asks with a polite smile, but she still sends a nervous glance at him.

"There is a room that looks like an audience room, with a table with several ornate chairs down here."

She walks towards him, "It's one of the rooms the Brazilian Literature Academy meets."

"Wow, this place is awesome." He looks around again, then looks at Anna, "thanks for bringing us here."

"You're welcome."

Tony looks at Tim, who is standing two feet behind Anna, his hands firmly in his pockets and with a very serious expression on his face.

Anna looks at Tony, and then turns to look at Tim. "How much money do you guys have on you right now?"

"What kind of question is this?" Tim takes a step forward and looks down at Anna, who shakes her head, her curls bouncing against her shoulder.

"I would like to take you somewhere to do something really cool, but it would cost you money. Lots of money."

"Is something cool?" Tony seems interested, but Tim is unsure.

"Believe me, it's really cool. It's a once in a lifetime kind of experience."

"I have money on me. McGee?" Tony looks at McGee, pleadingly.

"It's something I'm going to regret later, isn't it?" McGee doesn't feel comforted when Anna starts laughing hysterically.

"Oh, you sure betcha!"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"Don't be a wuss, McGee."

"I think I've changed my mind, I don't wanna go anymore."

"Come on, Tim, you can do it," shouts Anna to him, and signals to the instructor to proceed.

"I don't want to go anymore. I… AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH"

They run up to the edge of the ramp, jump and finally they are floating silently over the Tijuca woods, the paragliding instructor guiding the glider softly into the hot air streams and keeping it floating.

McGee screams for some seconds, then the feeling the lack of gravity takes over, and he shuts up and feels only the wind blowing against his face and roaring on his ears. He starts enjoying it, and looks down at the people down in the beach, who look like tiny ants.

He hears someone screaming and guesses that it must be Tony's turn to jump.

The instructor expertly guides the paraglider in the air, and soon Tony and his instructor are beside Tim's glider.

"Probiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee," shouts Tony, trying to be heard over the wind.

"We're flying, Tony."

"I'm gonna be sick!"

"Don't puke, Tony!" shouts Anna, on the third paraglider, as she and her instructor float in the air beside the two Americans. She has her camera in her hand, documenting the flight with her lenses.

"I'm gonna die!" Tony is acquiring a curious green color.

"Whatever happens, don't puke, Tony." shouts Tim, looking as his teammate.

"Aaahhhhhghhhh"

All they hear is Anna's crystalline laugher floating in the air, Tony's moans and Tim's screams.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

A few minutes later, their paragliders softly reach the sand on the beach below. Tony collapses on the sand, as soon as his feet touch the ground. Tim runs with his instructor a few feet, until the glider finally stops. He disengages the security ropes, and rush to Tony.

"Tony, are you ok?"

Tony turns on his back, his arms wide open on the sand, and does a snow angel on the sand.

"I love the ground. I never want to leave the ground again. The sky is for birds. Never more. No, never again." He repeats, with his eyes closed.

Anna's glider lands, and her instructor helps her to disengage her backpack and her security ropes. McGee watches her landing, then turns to his friend still on the floor.

"But you said you wanted to try paragliding."

She rushes to their side as soon as she is free of the ropes.

Tony grabs McGee by his shirt, and roughly shakes him, "that was before she" he points to Anna "tried to kill me."

Anna laughs, as he had been very enthusiastic when she proposed the non propelled flight over Rio.

"Come on Tony, don't be a wuss."

"A wuss?" Tony stands up, and slaps the sand of his clothes staring at Anna. "A wuss?"

"Sure, look at Tim, he's perfectly fine, and he was terrified of trying the jump."

"I'M NOT A WUSS." He roars, and runs after Anna. When she sees him charging, she throws her backpack to McGee and runs away screaming and laughing. She runs maybe a few yards before Tony tackles her to the sand, and he rubs her head on it before lifting her up.

"Who is a wuss?" She spits the sand, cleans the sand from her face and looks at him, smiling.

"You are."

"ARGH!"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Later that night, she takes them to a restaurant with live music. There were some people with percussion instruments, guitars and some people singing and dancing.

The people on the tables were singing along, as most of them knew the lyrics of the songs, and there was a small circle of people dancing. The ones who did not have a good voice simply clap their hands or hit the table with light tapping, in the rhythm of the music.

Tony is enjoying the music, tapping on the table trying to follow the rhythm. He smiles when he catches the eye from one of the _mulatas_ dancing, who soon come to their table and invites him to dance Samba.

Anna just smiles and shakes her head and finishes her orange juice. She signals for the waiter, and requests another juice. She looks at Tim, and asks him what he wants.

"A diet soda, please."

She translates the order to the waiter.

He notices that the whole day she hasn't drunk any alcohol.

"You don't drink."

She glances at him and frowns, "Uhm?"

He leans over the table, and shouts over the music, "You don't drink alcohol."

She nods, "alcohol is a drug that robs the good sense of men and turn good family men in monsters. I don't like it. Never tried it."

"Never?"

"Never."

They look at Tony who is dancing and having a good time. They see the _mulata_ dancing very close to him, and she cops a feel of his ass and slaps his buttocks, making him jump. Tony smiles down at her and she blinks at him, keeps on dancing.

Anna laughs, "Tony just received a _danadinha_ from a _tanajura_."

"What?"

Anna glances at him, and shakes her head, "nothing, it's not important."

"No, you said he received what?"

Anna smirks, "do you really want to learn this?"

"Yeah!"

She stares at his face, checking his sincerity. She bites her lip, trying to hold her laughter in check, but he makes his best puppy face, with sad begging eyes, "Please, teach me."

"Ok, ok, ok, wipe that look off your face, it's creepy." They laugh, and Anna leans over the table, and shouts over the noise of the music.

"When we're dancing, we have a lot of words for the things that happen. For example, she is what we would call a _tanajura_, because she is, you know…" she makes a move with her hand, showing figuratively the hip endowments of the woman dancing.

Tim decides to fake not to understand, "I don't follow. What is a _tanahhh_...?"

She looks at the dancing people then at Tim, "_Tanajura_ is a type of ant."

"What does an ant has to do with a _mulata,_ I don't understand."

"_Tanajura_ is a type of ant with very big …" Anna blushes under his gaze, and laughs uncomfortably, "it has a big ass, ok?"

"Ahh…" he looks at the dancer, then feels his eyebrows going up, "so she…"

"Yep, think about someone like Jennifer Lopez, with a big, really big backside."

"Ahh…." He looks at her, "_tahnaaadjuraaaaahhh_."

Anna laughs hysterically, hitting her fist on the table. She leans her head against the table, her shoulders shaking with the force of her laughter, and Tim joins her, as he does sound ridiculous trying to repeat the word.

_"Tahnaaaa…."_  
She lifts her head and wipes her tears, "please stop."

"Taaaaahhnadjuuurahhh"

"Ok, now the other word you said. She cupped a feel, and that was –"

"_Danadinha_, she gave him a _danadinha_."

Tim tries out the new word, "_dahnaaadeeeenaaaahhh_."

"No," Anna shakes her head, still smiling, "_Danadinha_." She crunches her nose, as she pronounces the nasal phonemes.

Tim frowns, and tries to repeat.

"_Dahnaadeeeñaaaaa_" he tries, and Anna smiles at him.

"Almost there, repeat, _Da-na-di-nha_."

"_Dahnadeeña_," Anna stares at his face for a moment and starts to laugh again.

"Ah, come on, you're not helping me. I'm trying to learn here."

"Sorry," she wipes her eyes, "I can't help it."

"So what exactly am I repeating here."

"_Danadinha_ is a light slap on the bum, usually during dancing or a sexual intercourse."

"Ahh…"

They look again at the samba circle. Anna wipes the condensed water outside her cold orange juice, and look at Tim. He is relaxed after their day in the city and he has a contented smile in his face.

She studies his hands, long fingers with clean nails. No ring on sight. She zones out a little, imagining those long fingers touching her, and she blushes when she feels herself becoming excited just by looking at some man's hands.

She drinks her orange juice, orders her mind not to go there. They are leaving tomorrow, then she will go back to her normal boring routine, without any Americans to rob away her peace of mind.

"Hey," she calls out, and she gulps when he turns his beautiful green eyes to her, "I hope you have enjoyed my country, and I apologize for the bad experiences you had in your first days here."

"It wasn't that bad." He stretches his hand, takes her smaller one in his. "We met you."

They look at each other for a moment, and something she sees in his eyes makes her uncomfortable. She feels herself falling in his gaze, and she knows that he feels her shaking as he rubs his thumb on her hand. She notices his pupil dilating and she gulps.

_Oh man, I'm in trouble.  
_  
Tony is pushed against their table, spilling their drinks and breaking the mood.

"TONY!"

"Sorry, sorry." He tries to wipe the liquids with the paper napkins, but he just makes a bigger mess. Another girl grabs his arm and drags him back to the samba circle.

Anna and Tim look at each other, the moment gone. They turn to observe Tony dancing, trying to follow the difficult steps, and smile.

He looks at Anna, "You know, he looks like a marionette with his strings cut, having spasms."

"To me, it looks like he's having an electric shock."

They look at each other and roar with laughter.


	11. He gets the biscuit wet, bites it

_**Chapter: He gets the biscuit wet, bites it and eat**__**s it.**_

_**Portuguese idiom: molhar o biscoito  
Literal translation: Getting the biscuit wet  
**__**Meaning: Having sex. Indulging the pleasures of flesh.**_

One of the girls from the samba circle helps Tim and Anna to take a slightly inebriated Tony to his hotel room. Tony kisses and licks the girl's neck while still in the elevator, while Tim blushes brightly, embarrassed at the behavior of his colleague.

"Behave Tony."

Once in their suite, the girl exchanges some rapid fire Portuguese with Anna, who just smiles and says something back.

The girl smiles, grabs Tony by his shirt, while he's still drunkenly trying to explain what a great dancer he is, and sucks his lips in a deep kiss.

Tony immediately gets her idea, and drags the girl to his own penthouse, and locks the door.

Thus leaving Tim and Anna alone in the living room of the suite. They look uncomfortably at each other, at loss of what to do now that Tony is not with them.

"What did you say to her?"

"She asked if she could give a welcome party to the gringo. I told her to knock herself out."

"Ah, man, he really shouldn't. We're on duty."

"She won't harm him. And he's more than willing. He may be drunk, but he's still in full working order."

She walks around the penthouse, looking at the luxury offered by the Copacabana Palace to those who can afford to pay it. So very far away from her own reality in the hill.

She looks at the floor, incapable of looking at him. They are leaving tomorrow, and then she'll be back in the hill.

"I really enjoyed today," he says softly, and she lifts her head and looks at him.

He is rocking on the balls of his feet, his hands firmly stuck in his jeans pockets.

"So did I, but I think I'd better go. I have to work tomorrow, and you have to pack to go back to America."

"Yes, and you have a long way home still."

"Yeah."

They look at each other, unsure of what to say, uncomfortable with the feelings they both are having.

She points to the door, turns and starts to leave. McGee sighs and rushes to her side, trying a last desperate attempt to convince her to go with them, to testify. He grabs her arm and turns her to him, and starts speaking very fast.

"It's not safe here. If we found you, they can find you. Just because you don't want to testify, you want to bury your head in the sand it won't make it disappear, it will still be there. And they will come after you."

He is frustrated at her stubbornness, and she looks at his hand on her arm, then at him.  
He feels lightheaded as he gets lost in her gaze. Her eyes disturb him. She disturbs him. Her scent attracts him, her voice seduces him and her body calls for him.

"Tim," she shakes her head, uncertain of what she can say, and insecure of the feelings he causes in her.

They look at each other for a long moment. Their chests heaving at each breath, he takes a step closer. She doesn't move away, but he can see her pupils dilate, her eyes huge looking at him. She breathes faster, as he takes another step, and there is only an inch of distance between them. He leans towards her face, all the time looking at her eyes and kisses her.

After a moment just touching her lips, he deepens the kiss, his tongue diving into her mouth, invading and demanding a response from her. Tim wraps his arms around her waist and brings her against his chest, which is a good thing as Anna's legs were shaking too much to keep her standing. She moans when her breasts are pressed against him, her arms going around his shoulders, one rubbing against his neck and grabbing his hair. She leans her head to the left to give him better access as he starts to trail kisses on her neck and shoulder.

She shudders and rubs herself against his hardness she can feel against her tummy. After his attack to her neck, she becomes more aggressive and grabs his head and kisses him hard, her hands running up and down his back.

They separate, breathing harshly. They stare into each other eyes for a full minute, before he takes her hand and leads her to his own bedroom, and closes the door.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Once in the room, there is that awkward moment when you are before a person and you know what will happen, but you don't know exactly how it will happen. He looks at her, who seems to be very uncomfortable being in the room alone with him.

She glances at the bed, and then at the floor, and rubs her sweaty hands on her low cut jeans.

"Hey," he says softly, cups her cheek in his hand and takes a step forward, taking her lips into a soft kiss. They explore it for some minutes, only their mouths touching, begging for more. It gains momentum, the attraction that was simmering the whole day spills out of and he pushes her against the wall, as their hands start running over each other hungrily.

They take off their clothes in a hurry, uncoordinated moves punctuated with deep kisses. He wraps his arms around her waist and takes some steps backwards guiding her to his bed. He stops the kiss, sits on the bed, and stares at her naked body. She moves her hair so it covers her upper body, but he takes her hand and brings her to lay on the bed with him, and moves her hair away from her breasts, uncovering her body to his eyes.

There are no words between them, just touch, smell and taste. He touches her gently at first, with no hurry, and she responds shyly to his commands. She submits to his touch, always staring at him with surprised eyes when he touches her in a new way that brings a new moan to her lips.

After some time making out, and after McGee kissed every inch of her tanned skin, trying to memorize the spots that brought moans of delight out of her, McGee moves and covers her body with his, ready to reach the next base.

He kisses her deeply, tasting the coffee and the chocolate they had eaten that afternoon on her lips. He moves her legs to the sides, positions himself and thrusts into her body.

She moans and winces, not of pleasure, but pain. He freezes immediately as he can feel her nails digging into his skin to show her discomfort, and she moves her head to the side, interrupting their kiss. She tenses her whole body, and bites her lip to silence her moans of pain.

He supports his upper body on his arms, and stares down at her until her grimace is gone. She opens her eyes and looks at his face with serious eyes.

"Why?"

She moves her hips a little trying to alleviate the pain. He moans at the friction it causes.

"It was never the right time. I was always studying and studying. Then later on I was working nonstop to help my parents. I never felt attraction to any of the self conceited pigs I met in my life. Never."

He studies her face. Her brown hair with sun strikes are all over the pillow, as a halo around her head.

"No, why me? Why give such gift to me?"

Her dark brown eyes turn to his green ones, and she studies him, trying to read into his soul.

She cups his face and kisses him softly, and moves her hips indicating that the pain had diminished.

"Why not?"

They start moving against each other, and those were the last words they exchanged for a long time.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

**Copacabana**  
**Monday, 1:30 am.**

The breeze of the ocean was not enough to cool the heat that permeated the room of the Penthouse.

The sweaty bodies move frenetically against each other. Their sighs and gasps fill the night until the male freezes and pushes himself deeply against the female, and simply obeys the biological programming written in his genetic code.

Both moan loudly, eyes tightly shut, then muscles relax and the sensation of wellbeing permeates their bodies and souls.

He moves with certain difficulty, dragging his heavy body from hers and lies on the bed, burying his head on the pillows. He is gasping, the effort and the whirlwind of emotions leaving him lightheaded.

They stay in silence for some minutes, until he breaks it speaking very softly.

"You should have told me."

She turns her head, and glances at him, one of her hands going behind her head, and his gaze is attracted to her heaving breasts.

"If I had told you, would you have stopped?"

He is still staring at her heaving breasts, and he takes a minute to respond.

"Probably. I don't know."

She wiggles on the bed, turning so her chin is supported on his chest, and one of her legs is firmly settled between his, her chest is glued to his side. Her left hand draws lazy whirls on his bare chest, bringing goose bumps to his skin.

"Then I'm glad I didn't. I wanted you since the moment that I met you, but I was afraid you weren't attracted to me."

He chuckles, incredulous.

"Me? Not attracted to you? Anna, I've been a mess since the moment I've met you." He shakes his head, then stares at the ceiling, where some reflexes of the lights down on the street could be seen. "Maybe even before then."

Anna frowns at Tim, confused.

"I don't understand."

Tim wets his lips, glances at Anna and stares at the ceiling again.

"I've read your posts. I saw your pictures. Then I've asked myself what type of person you could be. I think I created this whole image of who you were in my head, and meeting the real thing was a shock."

She leans over his chest, and lightly bites his nipple, bringing a hiss of pain to his lips.

"Did I satisfy your expectations?"

His gaze moves from the ceiling to her dark eyes, watching him with a serious expression.

"You surpassed all of them."

She smiles faintly, and leans her head on his chest. She closes her eyes, and hears his heartbeat soothingly under her ear.

One of his hands runs down her sweaty back, and he chuckles.

"It's almost like you are made of butter, melting under my fingers. It's so hot and not even the breeze can cool us down."

She nods against his chest, "It's summer, and the temperatures won't cool down even during the evenings."

"How can you stand that? I feel like I'm in a sauna during the day. "

She shrugs, "You get used to it, I think. And here, close to the sea is cooler. Up in the hill it would have been hotter."

He closes his eyes for a moment, thinking back on the day they had and on their actions in the last hours. He frowns when he realizes something.

"We didn't use protection."

Anna is almost asleep, "uhm?"

He shakes her shoulder, and she glances up at him. "What?"

"We didn't use a condom."

She studies his face for a moment, then lays her head on his chest again.

"So what?"

"So what? Aren't you worried? You could get pregnant!"

She sighs, and moves on the bed, sits and piles some pillows behind her back. He mimics her position, and sees that she is biting her lower lip.

"Would that matter?"

"Would that… Anna? Of course, that's my child we're talking about, that…" he rubs his hands tiredly over his face, his mind going into thousand directions.

"Tim," Anna turns to him, "It's not a problem."

He stares at her, astonished.

She runs her fingers through her long hair, her unruly curls sticking to them. She leans her head to the side, and sighs.

"Tim, I'm considered an old maid in my circles. Most of the girls are already popping children starting in their teens in the hill. Besides that, I'm an educated woman who does not bow down to the whims of a man, any man that might enter my life. That's a negative point. And I also have the burden of responsibility of my parents, another negative point. No Brazilian man would take an outspoken woman, who is smarter than him, and also share the burden of my parents."

She leans against the pillows, and looks at him, "I'm not marriageable goods, and my stubbornness and my looks don't help. Once my parents are gone, I'll be alone. So that's why I don't mind if I conceive from you. At least, I won't be alone anymore."

He frowns, his brain trying to wrap around the things she said.

"What the hell is wrong with Brazilian men?"

Anna chuckles at his outrage, "They like them cute, gorgeous and stupid."

"They are idiots."

"I agree."

They stay in silence for a while.

"What's wrong with your looks? You said your looks don't help."

She smiles at him, and shakes her head, "Come on, please. I'm nothing special. And my looks are pretty plain when compared to some other girls I know."

She says that naturally, as if she had no awareness of the beauty Timothy saw in her. He frowns, as she chuckles as if that is no big deal.

"Are you nuts?"

She glances at him, confused at his strong reaction.

"You are…" he plays with her long hair, touching the soft curls, "breathtaking."

She smiles at him.

"You are biased. You just had sex with me. You are thinking of me with your little head."

"No, no, listen to me," he takes her hand, and makes her sit before him. "You do know that you are beautiful, don't you?"

She studies his face, and looks him in the eye, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Tim. When you are a daisy in a field filled with a wild variety of flowers, one more impressive than the other, you are just that, a simple daisy. I have no illusions about myself, and the only person who ever told me I'm beautiful was my father."

She chuckles, and shrugs, "but he is biased, as he is my father."

Tim stares at her for a whole minute, seeing her total lack of awareness of her looks.

He lifts one of his hands, and cups her chin, and shakes his head, "Anna, you are beautiful."

She leans her head against his palm, and looks at him with smoky eyes, "then prove it."

He takes a deep breath, and his hand move to her curvy hips, and brings her to straddle his legs. One of his hands goes up and he massages the back of her head, bringing a moan from her lips.

"Anna," he moans, then kisses her savagely, trying to transmit everything he wants to say  
but cannot put into words.

They kiss for some minutes, until she starts grinding herself against him, bringing a moan from his lips.

They separate, their foreheads touching.

"I don't have preservatives," he growls, still trying to keep control of things.

She shakes her head, and kisses him again, sucking his tongue into her mouth, biting his full lower lip, "I want to feel your skin against mine and your seed in my womb, Tim."

She then proceeds to kneel before him, and looking into his eyes, guides him inside herself for the second time that night, bringing a strangled moan from Timothy. His hands turn into fists beside her hips, in a vain attempt of control, but he then grabs her by her hips and turns her into the bed, so she is lying on her back and he is on top.

He silences her moans of pleasure with a soul searching kiss, and gives her what she asked.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

**_Copacabana Palace Hotel_**  
**_4:19 am_**

"I got to go."

She sits on the bed, and Tim stares at the graceful curve of her back, as she looks for her clothes on the floor. After the initial discomfort of her first time, they still sought each other another two times. They easily found their rhythm and were very sad of parting their ways.

"I still have to go home before going to work."

He sits on the bed, and caresses her back.

"You sure I can't convince you to come with me?"

She looks at him, and smiles gently. She lifts a hand and caresses his five o'clock shadow, which left some burns on her skin.

"My place is here, Tim."

He frowns, and takes her hand from his face and squeezes it.

"You will keep in touch, won't you?"

"I don't make promises I know I can't keep, Tim." She studies his face, "this is the last time you will see me."

"But, if you get pregnant, you will contact me."

She stands up, and puts her clothes on silently under his scrutiny. She doesn't answer his question.

"Anna, you will contact me, won't you?"

She smiles and leaves, not saying a word.

* * *

a/n: Ahh Anna, come on!


	12. Time to start hitting the machine

_**Chapter 12: Time to start hitting the machine with a branch**_

_**Portuguese expression: Pau na Máquina**_  
_**Literal Translation: Hitting the machine with a tree branch**_  
_**Meaning: Start working hard, without delay**_

_**Copacabana Palace Hotel**_  
_**Monday, 8:00 am**_

It's a very happy Tony that greets Tim the following morning, after an invigorating shower to clean any vestige of his drunken state from the night before.

He is surprised however with the state Tim is as, even though he drank nothing but a glass of beer the night before, followed with several diet sodas, he looks as he spent the night awake.

He looks as if his best friend was murdered.

Or as if the woman of his life walked away without looking back.

"Are you ok, McGee?"

He sits down beside him on the sofa, and he is worried when McGee doesn't even acknowledge his presence. He stares at the computer, and sees that he is looking at Anna's portfolio in Deviantart, watching the pictures in a slideshow.

"She left," Tim says in a monotone voice, as another picture forms in the screen.

Tony sighs deeply, and stares at his Probie, who leans forward, supporting his aching head on hands.

"Maybe if we talk to her again, we can convince her that –"

"No," Tim shakes his head, and looks at Tony with tired eyes, "we can't convince her of anything. She has to decide that she wants to come with us. Come with…" he pauses, but the end of the sentence lingers on the air. Tim wants her to decide to come with _him_. Tim stares again at the computer, as another artful picture appears, this time a study of textures on a brick wall.

Tony slowly sits down besides Tim, and says in a very soft voice, "this isn't only an infatuation, is it?"

Tim answers in the same soft voice, "never thought it was."

Tony chews his lower lip, trying to think what they could do. Obviously something happened between their gorgeous guide and his Probie, but it hadn't ended well if Tim's appearance was any give away.

"We could always kidnap her." He says, almost serious.

Tim looks at Tony, as if he had lost his mind.

"No, seriously, think about it. We could say that it was for her own protection. We, crazy brave Americans, coming to save her from the deadly killers tracking her down for witnessing a crime. No jury would condemn us."

"That sounds like the plot of a romance," says Tim with chuckle.

"Well, it would be romantic. Chicks dig this type of romance."

"Have I mentioned that it would be a plot of a very _bad _romance?"

Tim and Tony chuckle a little, then Tim sighs and becomes serious again.

"She doesn't belong to that place." He says, with his eyes closed and leaning back on the cushions of his sofa.

Tony has to agree with him. She mixed with the pimps, drug dealers and armed hill guards as well as water mixed with oil.

"So what are we going to do?"

"I don't know."

The computer pings, signaling that they have an incoming video message. Tim cuts the slideshow and smiles when he sees Abby's smiling face on the laptop.

"Hey McGee, how is it going"

"Hi Abby, we're fine. Did you find anything on your search?"

Gibbs appears behind Abby, "I'm the one making the questions here, McGee. How did it go with our witness?"

Tim sighs, "It didn't. She refuses to leave her parents, regardless of the danger that might come her way. But boss, when you consider the danger she already is, I see why she simply shrugs at our concern for her safety."

"What do you mean, McGee?"

Gibbs looks concerned at Tim, as he sees him agitated. This case seems to be affecting his younger agent more than he had expected. He sees Tim rubbing his tired eyes with his hands.

"Boss, she lives in a slum house, in a favela, governed by crime and drug traffic. The entrance of her hill is guarded by muscular men with Uzis, keeping unwanted people out as well as the cops. While I spoke to you on the phone, from the roof of her house, I've counted at least fifteen men with heavy artillery in neighboring roofs, all doing rounds on the slum house, to ensure that no cop will come close to their drug lord who lives higher up. And those were only the ones I could see, not mentioning the ones she told me were hiding, but still watching."

"Boss, she doesn't care if someone comes from America trying to kill her for seeing someone being murdered. People are murdered every single day in her own neighborhood, and she just walks by it, without blinking. Her life is at stake every single day she leaves her home, and she just keeps going. Another person trying to kill her won't make difference when you look at the bigger picture."

Tim stops to take a breath, and looks at Gibbs, "her father is sick, and from what we saw of the conditions they live in, he's not receiving proper care. She struggles every single day against insurmountable odds against her, and you expect her just to throw everything aside just to help us? Leaving her sick father and her mother alone in a place that will likely swallow them whole?"

"McGee, listen –"

"No, Boss, you listen," McGee stands up, frustrated with the situation, with Anna, with Gibbs, with Vance, with everything. Now he finally understands why Anna is so resigned with her situation. She simply expects things to go wrong, as every single thing in her life has gone wrong so far. Having hope is wrong, as it will only make it hurt more when that hope is frustrated.

"If we don't include her parents on the deal, there is no point for her trying to help us, because she doesn't care about one dead marine. It's only another corpse in a very long list of dead people she had to walk away in her very short life."

Gibbs stares at McGee for a moment after his passionate speech. He seems to consider for a moment.

"It's not only one marine anymore, McGee. We have two dead marines, both shot in the same way, both of them with millions of dollars in their accounts and no clear explanation of how that money got into their accounts. I understand your concern about her, but it is up to you two to convince her that, despite her life experiences, doing the right thing is the most important thing now. Yes, we can't offer asylum for her parents now, but once she is settled here we could plead for someone to grant them safe passage, and collect them later on."  
McGee shakes his head at Gibbs, standing behind the sofa with his hands inside his pockets.

"They might not survive until later, Boss." He says softly, heartbroken.

"Then I don't know what to say to you. If her condition is so dangerous as you described, she should be jumping with joy for the chance we're offering her, not being picky about it," says Gibbs, his concern about the mental state of his agents increasing tenfold as he sees how agitated McGee is.

"She's not being picky about it, she's being realist." Tim lifts his eyes to the laptop, which is recording his image and transmitting to the headquarters.

Tony leans towards the laptop, appearing in the transmission, "isn't there anyone we could talk in DC that could expedite an asylum request boss? Maybe if you speak to the DA directly, we could offer a better deal."

Gibbs frowns as he considers his options, "we still don't know if she saw anything that night, if her testimony will be able to nail down the killer."

Tim leans over the sofa, his hands folded. He frowns as he thinks about the talks he had with Anna and her father, and the hints they dropped. "She saw the killer, Boss. And she's terrified for it. In her world, snitches are killed, so she learnt that, in order to survive, you better keep your mouth shut. That's the main reason why she doesn't want to testify. The only way she might accept helping us is if we grant safe passage both for her and her parents. Otherwise, if she rats the killers out and word reaches the hill of what she has done, her parents are as good as dead."

Gibbs stays in silence for a moment, thinking about their options. "I have some favors to collect, give me some hours. I'll contact you later on if I have any news."

Tony and Tim nod, "Thanks Boss, we'll be waiting for good news," says Tim.

"Besides, we have to go out to collect our passports still," says Tony.

"Ok, keep in touch."

"Bye, Tony, Bye McGee!" shouts Abby in the background.

"Bye."

The connection is cut, and both men stay in silence for a moment.

Somehow, the stakes have been raised. Two marines were murdered, their witness refused to testify unless a better deal was offered, and they still had no idea of the motives of the murder.

"We forgot to ask Abby about their side of investigation," says Tony, scratching his wet hair.  
Tim suddenly moves, going to his bathroom, and Tony stares at his back, "where are you going man?"

"To get ready to collect our passports," comes the muffed voice by the door closed, then Tim pokes his head out, "then I'm going to Anna's workplace, I want to talk to her again, maybe have lunch with her, and I hope to have good news from Gibbs until then."

He smiles, then enters again the bathroom. The sound of shower is heard, and Tony smiles, and nods.

"That's the spirit, Probie. Positive thinking." He stands up, and goes back to his own penthouse.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The sun is starting to rise in the horizon when Anna tries to silently open the door of her home. She enters with her shoes on her hands, locks the door, and silently moves to her bedroom.

Just to receive the scare of her life as her father is waiting for her, sitting on the sofa, and speaks softly making her jump.

_"Anna."_

_"Dad."_

_"Don't even think about hiding what you did, because I know."_

She sighs, and leaves her shoes and backpack on the table, and comes to sit beside him on the sofa. She glances at him, ashamed of her actions the night before.

_"I know that you know."_

_"My daughter, you were never happy here. You always dreamed of going to places, flying away from this place. I've done my best to give you wings. Now, you must learn how to fly."_

_"Dad, I'm not going anywhere." _She looks at her father with tears on her eyes, and takes his bony hand in hers and squeezes it. _"I'm going to stay here, with you."_

_"You will leave with them. With the green eyed man. I saw how he looked at you. And how you looked at him."_

She shakes her head in denial, _"It's nothing like that, Dad. He wants me to go to America to testify on a crime. But it might be dangerous."_

Her father is outraged, and stands up from the sofa to stare down at her.

_"Dangerous? Living here is dangerous. Facing every morning is dangerous. If you give up before you even start, you are weak. And no child of mine is going to be labeled weak."_

He speaks excitedly, his hands waving on the air, his speech punctuated with painful coughs.

_"Anna, I'm dying."_

Anna looks at her father, her eyes simmering with tears, _"Dad, please, y—"_

_"You know that, your mother knows that. I've known for a long time. I don't want to see you wasting your life away just watching me die. I've lived my life. I had a full happy life, and I might have regrets, but I've lived it. You are just starting your life. I don't want you to bury yourself with me. Much less waste away your years in the walls of this house filled with sad memories. You need wide open spaces. I always taught you to do the right thing. Regardless of the consequences, do the right thing. You always followed my teachings."_

_"Dad…"_

_"Remember, regardless of how difficult it might be, always to do the right thing. It might not seem the right decision at that time, and there might be consequences. But what is more important is to have a clean consciousness that you might even fail, but at least you tried."_

He takes her face in his hands, and kisses her forehead.

_"I trust you, Anna, to do the right thing," _he says, staring into her eyes.

_"Thanks Dad."_

_"Now go get ready for work. God bless you."_

_"God bless you too."_

Her father leaves, and she stares at the wall, thinking about his words. She looks at the clock, curses the time and rushes to get changed to leave.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Later that morning, Tony and Tim go to the reception to request a taxi so they may go to the American Consulate to collect their new passports.

"We rescheduled our flight from the morning to the evening, we'll be leaving at 8 pm."

Tony looks up from his notes, and sees Tim staring at a small souvenir keychain hanging from a display on the counter on the reception.

"Hey, McGee, did you hear me?"

"Yeah, we're leaving at 8 pm tonight. Is the taxi here yet?"

"They said it will take some minutes." Tony studies his Probie, and notices that he's very sad.

"We could try talking to Anna again, maybe she changed her mind."

"She won't." he drops the keychain on the counter, "she won't leave without her parents, and unless Gibbs gives us a calls with a better deal, she won't desert them."

"That sucks, man."

"Yeah."

"You ok men?" Tony studies Tim, and he really looks heartbroken.

Tim takes a minute to answer, "I'll be."

* * *

a/n: Will Anna make the right decision? What will be the consequences for both Tim, Tony and her? Come back tomorrow for more!


	13. She stops looking for hair on the egg

**_Chapter 13: She st_****_ops looking for hair on the egg_**

**_Portuguese Idiom: Procurar pelo em ovo  
English translation: Look for hair on the egg  
Meaning: Someone who keeps looking for problems where they do not exist_**

**_Rio de Janeiro_**  
**_Lagoa de Freitas,_**  
**_11:14 am_**

Anna goes to work on Monday morning, but her spirit is not in it. She works the whole day with the words of her father haunting her. She sits down on her work station, and at one free moment of the crazy routine, she gets the SD memory card from her camera and makes copies of it. She saves the copy on a micro SD, and puts it away on her secret place, and burns a CD to give it as gift for the Americans.

She decides to take a look on the pictures, trying to make a selection of the best pictures. She smiles as she sees the shots she made.

She laughs at Tim's and Tony's delighted faces while eating in the Confeitaria Colombo, as well as their poses in the Selaron stairs.

Tony with a definite green tone on his skin while flying in the paraglider, and Tim's delighted face while flying, free.

Tim smiling at the camera, his green eyes sparkling at the lenses.

Tim and her sitting side by side laughing at Tony's dancing.

Tony's shaking his booty trying to dance samba.

Tim smiling at the camera.

Tony with open arms with the Christ behind him.

Tim smiling at the camera.

She and Tim standing side by side, each on one side of the columns of the Real Gabinete, and he looking down at her smiling.

Smiling at her.

_Oh shit, how can I be so blind?_

She goes back to the first picture, and checks each shot she made, which appears the green eyed man alone or with her. He's always smiling, either at the camera whenever she's the one taking the shot, or, if she is in the picture, at her.

She covers her mouth, horrified, in a vain attempt to cover the anguished moan, coming from her soul. How could she do that to him, he's leaving, and she will stay, and he… he…

She turns, just to shriek in surprise when she sees her boss looming over her shoulder.

_"VOCÊ__ É ESTUPIDA, ANNA? __QUEM VOCÊ PENSA QUE É?"(Are you stupid, Anna? __Who do you think you are?) _

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Meanwhile, Tony and Tim went to the American consulate as soon as it opened, collected their passports and went straight to Anna's office building, in the hopes of catching her during lunch time.

They arrive at the same receptionist, who this time smiles and tells them to wait until Anna comes downstairs to meet them.

They hear a commotion, and some shouting can be heard. The muffed voices carry in the corridor, and they look up trying to identify its origin.

Some minutes later, a very distraught Anna comes out of the elevator, carrying a cardboard box on her hands, with her things on it. She freezes when she sees the two Americans sitting at the reception.

"Anna," Tony looks at her things, then at her, "what's going on?"

Anna stares at Tony, then her gaze falls on Tim and stays. She tries to speak, her mouth opening and closing several times. Her eyes start filling with tears, and Tim immediately goes to her side, worried as she looks at him with tearful eyes.

"What's wrong?" he takes the box out of her hands and looks down. It seems as she cleaned her table.

"Were you fired?"

She laughs, and shakes her head, her ponytail going to the sides as she moves her head.

"No, I quit."

"You quit."

She laughs louder and nods, feeling the weight of her decision slipping from her shoulders, "I'm going with you."

Tim stares at her for a moment, then puts the box on the counter of the reception and takes her by her shoulders, "You… you're coming with us?" he asks softly, barely containing his joy with it.

She nods, and looks at his face, studying it with tears falling down her face.

"What made you change your mind?"

She smiles placidly, "you did."

She sees his unbelieving stare, then she explains, "I saw the pictures we took yesterday, Tim. I might be very slow to understand things sometimes, but I'm very good in reading pictures. And my dad spoke to me, and he ordered me to do the right thing. That when I made my decision, I would feel it was the right one because I would feel in peace with myself. And the right thing is to go with you. Wherever you go."

Tim smiles down at her and hugs her, barely containing his joy, "thanks."

He takes a step back, and looks down at her, and sees that she's blushing under his stare.

"Ok, ok, stop this melodrama, now we have lot to do and so little time," says Tony, looking at the couple, who laugh self consciously and separate.

"We have to go to the hotel and report to Gibbs," says Tim.

"And I have to go back to talk to my parents, and collect my passport, but," she grabs Tim's arm, "There's only one problem."

"What now?"

"No, it's something important to me, but for you, maybe it's no big deal."

"What?"

She looks embarrassed at the floor, trying to find the words to explain her situation, then looks at Tim and Tony, and says in a very low voice, "I don't have the money for the ticket."

Tony smiles and shakes his head, at the same time he puts his arm around Anna's shoulders and starts guiding her out of the building, "that's our problem, not yours."

They leave the building, Tim carrying Anna's box, and stop a taxi, and cross the city towards Copacabana to report to Gibbs their success on their mission.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The three enter the penthouse, and Tim immediately rushes to the laptop, trying to set up a video link with NCIS headquarters. Tony goes to his own penthouse to pack his things, leaving Tim and Anna alone in the living room.

While he waits for the connection to go through, he glances at Anna, who is standing very uncomfortable in the living room. She is looking at the art on the walls, while she distractedly runs a hand over the French furniture that decorates the penthouse.

"Hey," he calls her out, and she jumps surprised, slamming her hand in a lamp, which falls to the floor and breaks.

_"Ai meu Deus,_ I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She falls on her knees and starts to collect the porcelain pieces.

He stands up, and goes to her, and kneels beside her, taking her hands in his, "It's ok, you don't have to do that."

"No, but I broke it, you will be charged for it, and…" she looks at him, and he notices that  
she's becoming unglued, and he feels her shaking in his hands.

"It's not a problem, NCIS will pay for it." She looks at him with terrified eyes, and he sees them slowly filling with tears.

"I'm afraid of doing the right thing, and then seeing things getting worst than they already is."

He brings one of his hands to her face, and wipes one of her tears that are running down her face, "Everything will be alright, you'll see."

She bites her lips, and nods. After a moment of hesitation, she approaches him and hugs him firmly. Tim closes his eyes, as he feels her body molding to his, and the faint tremors of fear running through her.

"Everything will be alright, you'll see." He murmurs against her hair, which smells like mangos and passion fruit, something he will always associate with her.

"I just want to believe you so much," she whispers against his neck. He kisses her neck, and takes a step back, framing her face in his bigger hands.

"I won't let anything happen to you. I promise you that, ok?"

She nods, and both jump apart when they hear a voice screaming from the laptop.

"McGee, where are you?"

Both stand up, and they see Ziva, Gibbs and Abby in the screen, with Abby's Lab in the background.

"Hi, Boss."

He goes around the sofa, and sits before the camera. Gibbs frowns when he sees the stranger with McGee, while Abby can barely hold her enthusiasm, Ziva smiles thinly at the stranger.

"Boss, I'd like to introduce you to Anna Julia Rodriguez."

Anna sits down slowly in the sofa besides McGee, and waves shyly at the people back in DC.

"Hi."

Abby is jumping up and down, "Oh my God, you're beautiful! Isn't she hot, McGee?"

McGee blushes five shades of red, and Anna can feel her face burning, and laughs uncomfortably.

"Abby, you're leaving them uncomfortable," says Ziva, holding Abby's shoulders and trying to keep her in one place.

"Well, that's Abby for you, our forensic specialist in the Goth attire, then we have Ziva, our ex Mossad officer and then my Boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

Anna waves at them, then turns to McGee, "How is this going to work?"

"Ah…" McGee starts typing on the laptop, "Abby, can you record this from your side, please?"

"Sure, McGee," Abby starts typing on her keyboard, and after some seconds, "it's ok, let's start."

"Ms. Rodriguez, am I to assume that you agreed to testify in our case and also accepted the protection detail offer we gave you."

"It's Anna, sir, and the answer is yes to both questions." She sees Abby barely holding her laughter, and Gibbs cringing as he is called sir, and she looks confused at McGee. "Is something wrong?"

He shrugs, "He doesn't like being called sir, but that's ok, you didn't know."

Gibbs ignores the two talking, and goes straight to the point, "What can you tell us about what you saw on the night of November 14th?"

Anna nods, and takes a deep breath, before starts giving her testimony.

"It was a moonlit night. Beautiful clear skies. I was taking pictures of the moon," she turns to McGee, and says in an animated voice, "I was testing new zoom lenses, and I could see the seas and the mountains in the moon, almost as if my camera was a telescope."

McGee smiles and nods, but Gibbs is more interested in the murder, not about her pictures.

"What did you see?"

Anna bites her lower lip, and frowns as she remembers what happened only ten days ago.

"They were fighting in the alley behind the building. I could hear their voices from the roof. They started screaming at each other, then I went to check what was happening."

"Did you get a good look on who they were?" asks Gibbs gently.

A tear runs down Anna's face, then she nods.

"Would you be able to recognize the killer, if we showed you a picture of him?"

She wipes her tears out of her face, then nods again.

"It was a moonlit night, clear as day. I would never forget his face."

Gibbs sees that she's crying and he frowns as he sees McGee taking her hand in his and squeezing, trying to comfort her. She doesn't acknowledge it, just closes her eyes for a moment and squeezes it back.

"McGee, we'll arrange to have Marshalls waiting for you in the airport, and ensure that she's safe until you're on air. We'll make a sketch of the person who she saw and try to nail down this bastard asap."

"On it, Boss."

Anna opens her eyes and shakes her head, "You know… what's funny?"

She glances at McGee, who looks at her with a serious expression on his face, then at the strangers from America, who are looking at her. She looks at the background and sees that it really seems authentic, and that she's putting her life in their hands.

A wild gamble, but a gamble nonetheless.

"When I travel, when I left for America last month, all I wanted was to leave all of this behind. To suspend reality just for a couple of weeks and to forget the cruelty and the callousness of the place I live in. I wanted to leave all the pain and death behind, and just look for beauty and document it, just to keep going for another year, until I was free again to fly away. My pictures taken during my trips were what kept me sane while I had to endure every single miserable day in that horrible place. But death followed me."

She starts sobbing, and McGee gathers her in his arms, ignoring the murmurs from the people in the video, and just rubs his hand on her back, as she wets his shirt with her tears.

"It's going to be ok, we got you now." He whispers, looks at Gibbs, then at Tony, who is watching her sobbing from the door.

"Why death had to follow me? Isn't enough what I have to see back home? Why it had to follow me?"

Tony sits beside her, on her other side, "Hey, Anna, come on." She leaves McGee's arms, then turns to Tony, "What's so wrong with me, Tony?" Tony opens his arms, then she hugs him too.

"There's nothing wrong with you, you just were in the wrong place in the wrong time." She snorts, then sits back in the sofa, wiping her face.

"Then I've stayed my whole life in the wrong place in the wrong time." She says, trying to calm down. "You live in fear of what is happening around you. After a time, you simply walk by the most horrible crimes, looks the other way, and walk away. Because there's nothing you can do. No justice, no one who cares. Nothing."

"Things will be different from now on, kid." Says Gibbs, from the laptop.

She looks at Gibbs, and shakes her head sadly, "I want to believe so much in you. But I can't. I'm sorry, but I can't."

She stands up, then leaves the room, going to the French balconies.

Gibbs looks at Tony and Tim, who both look at Anna with sorrowful eyes, "Talk to her, we'll be waiting for you here."

"Thanks Boss." Tim disconnects and goes after Anna, who is standing in the balcony, staring at the sea.

He slowly approaches her, who is staring at the movement at the beach, with her arms folded around herself.

He knows how difficult it is for her to trust someone, and he is humbled by her attempt to at least try to trust them.

"Anna, you're not thinking of changing your mind, are you?" he sees her shoulders tense, then slowly relax, and then she turns to look at him.

She shakes her head, "No, I'm going with you. But it doesn't mean that it's easy to me, to put my whole life in your hands."

Tony approaches them and hears the tail end of the conversation, "but it's a chance of a new beginning, and we'll do our utmost to ensure that, once you're safe there, we will look for options to take your parents to you too."

She nods, and looks at Tony, "I know you will, and I thank you for that."

Tony nods, and puts his hand on Tim's shoulder and squeezes it, and says softly only to him, "talk to her." And leaves to his own suite, to give the two some quality time alone together.

Tim puts his hands into his pockets, and looks at Anna. She looks breathtaking in her white blouse and her black pen skirt, her office uniform.

"Anna, about the other night, I think…"

"No."

"No what?" he looks confused at her. She unfolds her arms, and approaches him, "I'm not going to let you apologize for something that we both wanted."

"I wasn't going to apologize." He says, blushing. She smiles and shakes her head.

"You were." She studies him, who is now looking at her with something akin of pain in his eyes, "I want to thank you," she says softly.

"For what?" he says softy as well, afraid of breaking the mood.

"For teaching me that it's ok to try again. That love might be a mistake, but it's one worth making."

She takes one of his hands in hers, and studies the clean polished nails in it.

"I was living in a shell, keeping people as far away as possible from me. I didn't feel worthy of anyone's attention."

Tim frowns, and takes one step closer to her, "But you are worthy."

She smiles, and takes one step closer to him, so they are only a couple of inches apart, "You made me worthy."

They smile at each other, and Tim slowly leans down, closes his eyes, and kisses her softly. They linger on it for a few moments, then fall apart.

"We have a lot to do."

"Yes, and I have to go back home to talk to my parents and get my passport." They step away from each other, putting some distance between each other to not fall in temptation again.

"We're going with you."

"There's no need, I'll come back with my things and meet you here so we can go to the airport."

Tony enters the balcony, and shakes his head to her idea.

"No, from the moment you yes, you are our responsibility, we have to protect you, and so we're going with you." He says, and folds his arms, daring her to contradict him.

She smirks at the two Americans, and thinks about the slum where she lives in.

"In the end, I might end up having to protect you."

They shrug, but don't change their minds. She relents, and they get ready to leave the penthouse. "Ok, let's go."

They leave the penthouse, unaware of the twists fate had prepared for them.


	14. Crap, the cow went to the swamp!

_**Chapter**__** 14: Crap, the cow went to the swamp. Now what?**_

Portuguese idiom: A vaca foi pro brejo  
Literal translation: The cow went to the swamp.  
Meaning: Something that went really wrong, and there's no way back.  
  
_Man's destructive hand spares nothing that lives; he kills to feed himself, he kills to clothe himself, he kills to adorn himself, he kills to attack, he kills to defend himself, he kills to instruct himself, he kills to amuse himself, he kills for the sake of killing. ~Josef de Maistre  
_  
Unbeknownst to the NCIS agents and to Anna, two days previously two men had arrived to Rio with a mission, and were also looking for Anna Julia Rodriguez. To help them in their efforts, they hire an interpreter and, after some research, they find out where she works, and go to her job.

There, they meet her pissed off boss, who after some cursing and complains about her, gives them her residential address.

They go to hill with their interpreter and, after asking some directions to some people in the street, they are able to find her humble home. Her neighbors knew that she traveled abroad, and the guards of the hill, when they saw the gringos, thought that they were also friends she made during her trips, so they did not stop them when they requested to go to Anna's house.

Her mother was a very simple woman who did not speak English. Once she opened the door, and saw those two foreigners speaking in English at her door, she smiled widely, and promptly invited them in, asking them to sit on the sofa, while she prepared some coffee for her visitors.

She imagined that those were other friends of her daughter from some place in the world, so she sees no problem in inviting them in.

With the help of their interpreter, both Julia and Ricardo explain that Anna is at work, and that she would be home later in the evening. But they were welcome to stay and wait for her. Meanwhile, Julia would prepare something to eat for them.

_"Vocês querem um cafezinho?" (Would you like some coffee?)  
_  
Dona Julia doesn't even wait for their answer, before going to the kitchen, to prepare a small banquet for their guests.

However, as soon as Dona Julia is in the kitchen, and Ricardo is alone with the two foreigners and the interpreter, he is surprised to see one of the foreigners pointing a gun with a silencer on it to him.

He didn't even have the chance of opening his mouth to scream, as he was shot with three bullets close to each other in his chest. He blinks and slowly slides on the love seat, dying almost instantly.

The interpreter is shocked at the scene, and stands up terrified, just to be caught in a headlock, and the second man breaks his neck silently, silencing his shocked scream forever.

He slowly brings the man to lie on the sofa, and the two killers just wait for Julia to come out of the kitchen.

Dona Julia comes out of the kitchen with a tray with coffee carafe and four delicate coffee cups, of the set she got when she got married to Ricardo. It was one of the few things they did not sell when they moved to the hill, and she was proud to show the foreigners that they might be living in hard conditions, but they still have their pride.

She looks up, smiling at the people in her living room, and doesn't have time to react before they shoot her with one single shot in her forehead.

The tray she held in her hand falls to the floor. The hot coffee carafe turns, spilling coffee on the old carpet they had in the living room. The coffee cups, made in delicate china and several decades old, break as soon as they hit the floor.

Dona Julia falls dead to the floor, surrounded by the small mementos of her previous safer life, her blood staining the carpet and mixing with the coffee on the floor.

The two killers stand up, look at their victims, just to certify that they are really dead, and go to the small table. Both pull a chair, and sit, staring at the house door.

Now, the only thing they have to do is to wait for the prey to enter their trap.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Some hours later, Anna arrives at the hill with Tim and Tony. As soon as she gets to the lower levels of it, she is greeted by the same men from the day before. They ask her to stop, and she obeys.

_When they want to talk to you, you better listen_. That's another rule of the hill.

_"Tá tendo muita visita aí, ein Anna?" (You're having a lot of visitors, Anna?)_

"Por quê?"(Why?)

_"Ué , primeiro esses dois branquelos aí, depois mais dois gringos chegaram aí hoje, sacou?" __(First these two white men, then two other gringos arrived today, got it?)  
_  
Anna freezes as she hears that, and the Americans immediately sense that there's something wrong happening.

"What's wrong?" Asks Tim worried.

Anna doesn't take her eyes out of the guards of the hill, but she says in a soft voice in English just for the Americans, "Two men arrived asking for me today, and they went to my house."

Tim and Tony are immediately alert, and stare at the stairs that lead uphill.

"Someone you know?" asks Tony, hopeful that he is wrong, that they didn't find her, and her parents, but his own gut is screaming at him.

Something is wrong. Very wrong.

She looks at the Americans, with terrified eyes, "I wasn't expecting anyone. Nobody would come without telling me first."

Tim and Tony immediately draw their weapons, and put Anna behind them, which catches the eyes of the guards of the hill who points their own guns at them. Anna lifts her hands and start speaking in rapid fire Portuguese.

_"Olha a polícia, bixo!" (They're cops!)  
_  
_"Eles não são nossa policia, eles estão aqui pra me proteger!" __(They're not cops, they are here to protect me!)_ she shouts, and points up the hill.

_"Os homens que vocês deixaram subir, eles são assassinos que estão atrás de mim, e vocês deixaram eles subir pra falar com os meus pais!" __(The men you left go up, they are killers who are after me, and you left them go talk to my parents!)  
_  
The two guards of the hill look at each other, and immediately radio the people up the hill informing the situation.

Anna starts running up the stairs of the hill, towards her home. She is followed closely by Tim and Tony, who are tense with the situation they are walking into blindly. Tim stops her before she reaches the second landing. She fights him, but he doesn't let his grip weaken.

"Let me go."

She hits him in the chest, and one of the guards points his gun at them.]

_"Larga dela, mané." (Let her go, brother!)  
_  
She speaks in rapid Portuguese with the hill guard, who orders them to follow him through a series of small streets and stares, going another way up. While they are climbing the hill, the guards of the hill who were on top are slowly going down, towards Anna's house, their heavy guns ready for action.

She rushes to one of the armed men, and begs in a teary voice, _"Por favor, não machuquem meus pais." (Please, don't hurt my parents.)  
_  
The armed man, barely a teenager with in his late teens, nods and approaches the house, with the cover of the other armed hill guards. Tony and Tim want to help, but one of the hill guards indicate with their guns that they should stay behind, laying low on top of one of the houses further down with Anna, while they go check Anna's place.

Tim glances at Anna, whose face is a mask of misery, her eyes closed and one of her hands firmly holding the small catholic saint on her neck, praying silently, moving only her lips.  
They look at the coordinated movement of the men, jumping from one roof to the other, towards Anna's home.

Now, they only have to wait.

Hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

George Orwell once said that _People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence in their behalf_.

In no place in the whole world this saying was truer than in the hills of Rio de Janeiro. There, crime, drugs and death walked side by side, holding hands, covering the city with its mighty veil of power and corruption.

The only law valid in the streets of the hill was the law of the guns, held in the hands of children, who were robbed from their mother's arms to serve as foot soldiers in a war without beginning and with a certain end.

The only way out of the hands of the drug lords was death. And death lingered in every street and narrow stairs that covered the hill. No one disobeyed the laws of the hill, as well as no one dared to attract the presence of cops to the hill, as it would be the equivalent of signing your death warrant.

And those two killers, when they walked into the hill to murder Anna's parents, had attracted the attention of some cops at the immigration when they landed, who were getting ready to storm the place using their presence in the hill as an excuse to invade the king of the hill's turf.

The cops, when they saw those two beefy Americans, with all the pose of mercenaries, going through the immigration in Rio de Janeiro airport, believed that they were connected with the drug cartels. They left them go, but they had been watching their activities since they left the airport and, when they saw they going to the Anna's hill and talking to the guards, immediately assumed they had been right.

So, they pack up their heavy guns, and slowly approach the hill, ready to start an operation to break the drug cartel and also make some international arrests. Arresting foreigners connected to drug traffic was always a good news headline, and showed that they were trying to do their job.

From their hiding place, they see a brunette with two other gringos arriving and talking with hill guards, and see the commotion it starts. They see the two gringos drawing their weapons, and immediately assume that they are into the drug business as well.

They have a camera crew with them, and they film the movements of the gringos with the hill guards, and inform the others by radio that they want them arrested, so they can negotiate with the American DEA later on.

Tonight, they will do the arrest of the year. 


	15. Hitting and killing flies

_**Chapter**__**15: Hitting and killing flies**_

_**Portuguese idiom: Na mosca  
Literal translation: on the fly  
Meaning: It's the equivalent of the expression bull's eye: When you hit something right on target. **_

The two men had orders to eliminate the witness that saw their boss killing Captain Davis. Their boss had been able to find out that there was an eye witness of his crime, and that NCIS was sniffing around his business, so their orders were quite simple.

Identify.

Locate.

Eliminate.

Considering where that chick lived, nobody would notice her death anyway, probably it would be counted as just another violence victim in the drug wars in the hills of Rio. Then they could go back to their nice apartment and get the other half of the twenty five thousand dollars their boss had promised them.

Piece of cake.

They hear someone at the door, starting to move at the hand knob. They point their guns, and wait for their prey to enter.

They are surprised, however, when the door is kicked open, and two men without shirts enter through the door, holding loaded Uzis in their hands and immediately showering bullets over them two.

They are able to pull the trigger maybe once or twice, before their bodies are cut in half by the automatic guns showering with bullets the small living room.

An agonized scream is heard in the background, some houses away further down, but they keep shooting until the two men are just a mangled mess of flesh and blood. The two hill guards enter the house in the living room, and look at the two gringos holding automatic weapons in their hands. Four other men enter the house, and they immediately go to Ricardo and Julia. They verify that their corpses are cold. They had been dead for hours. There is another stranger in the living room, his body in an awkward position on the sofa, the neck clearly broken.

There's nothing more to do in the small house.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

As soon as the shooting started, Anna started screaming, and tried to leave their hiding place to run to her house. Tim saw it, and noticed one of the guards of the hill pointing his gun to her, to take her out, and immediately tackled her to the floor and held her down with his body, protecting her with his body just in case the hill guard decided to shut her up forever.

She turns and fights with him, terrified tears running down her face, but he finally takes her arms and holds them over her head.

_"Não, não, meus pais, por favor Deus."(no, no, my parents, please God.)  
_  
"Anna," He shouts, trying to catch her eyes, but she is only trying to fight him more.

"_Não, não, por favor."  
_  
He holds her two hands with one hand over her head, and the other grabs her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"Anna," he says softly when she finally looks at him.

_"Meus pais, Tim, meus pais tão lá dentro." (my parents, Tim, my parents are in there.) _

She starts sobbing, and hides her face on his neck, and he closes his eyes, almost feeling her pain as his own. He lies on his side, and hugs her against him, and feels her shudder at each sound of the automatic weapon roaring over the air.

Finally it stops, and one of the hill guards approach them, signaling with his weapon that they should stand up.

They obey, and follow him as he jumps from one roof to the other, towards the small hill house where Anna spent the last years from her life. Two hill guards help Anna jump down from the roof to the street level and she starts running to her door house as soon as they release her, but two burly men with Uzis stop her before she enter her home.

_"Meus pais, eles tão lá dentro, por favor! Por favor!"_ she kneels, and starts sobbing, _"Meus pais, por favor!"  
_  
Tim and Tony rush to her, and Tony gathers her in his arms, while she screams at the hill guards.

"_Deixa eu passar, por favor! __Por favor!" _

The hill guards shake their heads, and she keeps on sobbing. Two other men come out of her house, and look at the two gringos kneeling with her on the floor and Anna, who is becoming hysterical with worry.

_"Cadê os meus pais?" (Where are my parents?)_ she shouts at one of the guards, a tall black man who looks like a wardrobe, who looks down at her with an impenetrable gaze.

He sighs, and lowers his gun.

"_Tã__o mortos, Anna. Os gringos mataram eles. Tão frios que nem picolé."(They are dead, Anna. The gringos killed them. They are cold as popsicles.)  
_  
Anna struggles against Tony's arms, and stares at the hill guard who gave her such bad news for a moment, her chin shaking until her pain becomes unbearable, and she can't hold it down anymore.

She screams.

And she screams louder yet.

She starts fighting against Tony's arms, shouting at his face, in a vain attempt to force him to let her go.

"ANNA, STOP IT!" Tony can't hold her down, and she gets free of his grasp and she starts to run to her house, just to be hugged by Tim, who grabs her by her waist and doesn't let her go.

She turns and scratches him, and screams as loud as she can on his ear, but he just tightens his grip on her and hugs her against his chest, as she screams her pain.

He falls on his knees, and holds her in his lap, and he doesn't even notice that tears are running down his face as well, as she wraps her arms around his neck and screams her anguish to the whole world to hear.

There are no words to console her, so he simply keeps quiet, and buries his head on her neck, and cries for the gentle people they met two day before, who welcomed them so graciously in their homes and in their lives.

Julia's delicious dishes and her soft kisses on his cheek.

Ricardo's wise eyes, watching him and figuring out his soul's desire even before he knew it himself.

Now gone, forever.

He feels her shaking in his arms, and her screams become moans, then sobs, until only tears are left. He lifts his head from Anna's neck, and glances at Tony, who is sitting on the dirty floor before him with a devastated expression on his face. Their eyes cross, and he sees that Tony's eyes are filled with tears, but he's not letting any of them fall.

Not yet, they still had Anna to protect.

They look at the guard hills, which have their guns lowered but are still on guard, watching Anna sobbing in the arms of her gringo.

Word of mouth on the hill was that Anna had kissed the blond man on the roof, and they saw how gentle he was with her, as if he cared with her. That was the only reason why they hadn't killed him yet. They see how he gently wipes her tears and how he touches reverently her hair, and speaks to her in his gringo language, and how he cries for her family, even though he met them only briefly.

Yes, the untouchable Anna of the hill had chosen the gentle gringo as her man, so they wouldn't hurt him.

Yet.

"I want to see them," she says between sobs to Tim, who is gently wiping her tears with his fingers.

"No, you don't. You don't want to remember them dead." She looks at him with tortured eyes, "you want to remember them living."

Tony stands up from the floor, then smiles thinly at the guards.

"Where's your passport, Anna? I'll go get it for you."

She glances at Tony, whose face had become a stony mask.

Tim stands up, then help her up as well.

"It's in the first drawer of my wardrobe, under my underwear, I'll go get it."

She takes a step, but the hill guards block her way.

"They won't let you pass," says Tony, looking at the guards, "I'll go."

The hill guards speak something in Portuguese, that Anna answers back, and points to Tony then at herself and Tim. The one who told her that her parents were dead, a tall black man with log arms and a wicked scar on his naked chest, approaches Tony, and stares down at him.

Anna keeps talking, pointing at Tony, and trying to explain why he has to go inside the house.  
Tony gulps, but doesn't back down as the black mountain of man glares at him, measuring him down.

The guard looks then at Anna, who is still in the arms of her gringo, and say something, to which she nods.

"What did he say?" asks Tim, looking at the black man.

Anna looks at Tony with sad eyes, and says, "He gave you five minutes to take everything worth saving from the house. After that, they are destroying the place."

Tony's head turns abruptly to look at Anna, whose anguished eyes are painful to look at. He nods, and walks past the hill guards, who step aside so he may pass, towards the house, not knowing what he will see, but happy that his eyes will be the only ones to face that nightmare tonight.

Anna simply turns and hugs Tim, who tightens his arms around her shaking body and leans against the wall of the other house, just waiting for Tony to come out.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

As a cop, and later on as a NCIS agent, Anthony DiNozzo has entered many crime scenes, and had lost that innocent wide eyed surprise at the brutality of mankind against human life.  
But one thing is to investigate the murder of a person you have never met, a stranger, another completely different is to face the mortality of someone who, just a few hours before, had been a living breathing person right before you.

He enters the small living room, and sees two hill guards standing over the dead killers. Their bodies had been almost cut in half by the automatic weapons, and their features could not hide the fact that they were American, with those square jaws, blue eyes and military style haircuts.

Tony approaches the bodies, just to be stopped by a hill guard. He nods, and turns to the other side, just to see a heartbreaking view.

Dona Julia was on the floor, her delicate china cups all broken to pieces, and her forehead with a neat bullet hole. Her face was almost placid, and a small smile graced her lips. If you ignored the bullet hole and the blood puddle she was laying into, you could imagine that she simply fell asleep on the floor. He approaches her, and gently touches her dyed hair, and feels his heart breaking imagining the pain Anna is feeling right now. He sees Julia's wedding ring, and decides that Anna would like to have a small memento of her parents.

He takes it off her finger, then turns to Ricardo, who is sitting on the love seat, exactly as he did while they were visiting two days before. He had a surprised expression on his face, as death had come in an unexpected way. Tony leans, and also takes his wedding ring from his finger, then he stands up and looks around in the living room. There is nothing valuable in the house, the only treasures in this place were the people who lived in here. Now that they were gone, the walls are cold and empty.

He sighs, and goes to Anna's room. Time is flying. He grabs her backpack, checks that her precious camera is in there. He goes to her wardrobe, and opens the first drawer. There, under her underwear, it's her passport, along with several SD memory cards. He puts everything in her backpack, and looks around again. He puts her old laptop inside the backpack, and tries to think of anything else she might want.

His gaze falls over a photo on the wall, where Anna is on her graduation clothes, smiling proudly with her mom and her dad standing on her side. Ricardo's face seems a little bit rounder, and Julia's smile was radiant. It must have been before their slide downhill, before the scandal, before the nightmare that Anna had been forced to live all these years.  
He bags the picture, then closes the backpack.

Time to leave this godforsaken place.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Even though it seemed an eternity, Tony returns only four minutes after he entered the house. He nods to the big hill guard, and approaches Tim and Anna silently, holding her backpack in his hands.

"My parents?" she asks, hopeful that there might still be something that can be done, but Tony's sad eyes say everything, and she lowers her head to her chest, defeated.

"You don't wanna know." He takes her hand, and very slowly, almost reverently, puts her parent's wedding rings on her palm. "I'm sorry, Anna."

She sobs, and opens her arms and hugs him. "I'm really, really sorry."

Suddenly fireworks start popping here and there, and the hill guards immediately go on alert. Dogs start barking wildly, and Tony feels Anna tense and looks up scared to the sky.

"What's going on?"

"The cops are coming," she looks scared at Tim and Tony, "we're not safe here."

The tall black hill guard motions that they have to run up the hill, while the others start running down towards the entrance of the hill. More guards jump from one roof to the other, and shots start to pop on the feet of the hill.

They were coming against the hill, and the hill guards take position, and start answering with heavy fire the action of the cops. The civilians hide inside their houses, and pray that, today, their lives are spared of the war on the hill.

Anna runs with Tim and Tony, following the hill guard, who is running between the small houses, leading them up, through small streets protected of the shots being fired down the hill. He pauses, and signals that they have to wait, and runs further ahead, checking if it's safe to proceed.

"Can't we talk to the cops? Explain what happened?"

Anna looks at Tony, who is trying to look down the hill where the gunfight is happening.  
"You really don't get it, do you? They're not here investigating a crime, they're here to make arrests. It doesn't matter who you are, if you are here, you are guilty by association. They arrest you, then torture you until you admit all the crimes they want you to impinge on you. They won't care that you're Americans, they will only assume that you're here either to buy drugs or to sell drugs, and will keep you under arrest until someone proves otherwise."

"But we're cops!" shouts Tim, over the gunshots.

"But can you prove it? Your badges were stolen, and you only have your passports with you. You also have guns, which will be more than enough reason for them to shoot you down, no questions asked."

The hill guard appears further down in the corridor, and signals that they have to follow him. Anna keeps low, and follows the guard. The two Americans follow her down the narrow corridor and turn around a corner, just to be surprised by three guns pointed to their faces.

They freeze as three thugs grab them by their arms, and start dragging them to one of the houses. As soon as they are inside the house, they cover their heads with black cloth bags, and there was only darkness.

The shots could still be heard, down in the foot of the hill.

* * *

a/n: Danger everywhere for our intrepid heros. Do you think they will come out alive? Give me your opinion on the tale and REVIEW the chapter, please?


	16. They step on eggs The eggs break

_**Chapter**__** 16: They step on eggs. The eggs break.**_

_**Portuguese expression: Pisando em ovos  
Literal translation: Stepping on eggs  
Meaning: The very unappreciated art of trying to avoid an even worst ending to a bad situation, avoiding a tragic ending. **_

With their heads covered, they were taken by the hill guards uphill, until they were put into a room where they could only hear the shots from afar.

They were forced to kneel on the cement, and heavy hands were kept on their shoulders, making it impossible for them to move away.

Tim could hear Anna's faint whimpering, and he was aware that she was somewhere to his right.

He hears someone falling on his knees to his left, and imagines that it might be Tony.

"Tony?" he says softly, just to close his eyes in agony as he receives the butthead of a gun on his head. He falls to the floor, and moans in pain.

"**N**o, no, no, please," Anna cries out, as she hears Tim moaning, but one of the hill guards stop her from reaching him.

"Probie, you ok?" Tony says, just to moan as the hand on his shoulder becomes heavier, squeezing him painfully.

"Please, whatever happens, do not speak," whispers Anna to them, between her tears.

"Now you tell me," says Tim, from his position on the floor. He feels rude hands grabbing him by his arms, and putting on his knees again.

They stay there for what seems like an eternity, and they feel the wind picking up, coming from the small window somewhere to the left. The gunshots stopped, and the sirens of the cops retreated.

In its place, they could hear the wailing of women, who lost their loved ones in the last confront, and the mad barking of dogs.

Finally, there is a commotion somewhere in the other room, and heavy footsteps come into their direction. The noise of a chair scrapping the naked cement floor they are kneeling is heard and, after few seconds, the cloth bags are taken out of their heads.

Tim and Tony blink to try to clear their eyesight, and they see a man in well cut jeans and a white polo shirt sitting on a chair before them. He holds lazily a small automatic pistol in his hand. His black eyes study them as if they are bugs under a microscope, and the small cynic smile on his lips is not comforting. He has a small goatee on his face, his black straight hair, cut quite short, was neatly combed with hair gel.

He starts speaking in Portuguese, a soft melodic baritone voice, to the hill guards, and Anna sniffs and wipes her face, staring terrified at the soft spoken man.

He glances at her, and she immediately looks to the floor, afraid of him.

He looks at Tim and Tony, and immediately they gulp, staring unblinking at the man who they can only guess who he might be. They see the deference of the hill guards towards him and the complete terror in Anna's face, and they realize that they are before the king of the hill, the drug lord whose domain they are in.

He brings his chair closer, the chair legs rasping on the concrete floor, and stares at Tony, then at Tim.

Tim recognizes him as the man who saw him kissing Anna in the roof of her house, standing with the hill guards on the watch towers on Saturday. His gaze immediately goes to Anna, who is looking terrified at the king of the hill, as she is perfectly aware of the power he yields over the lives of those in the hill.

He decides who lives and who dies on the hill. And it was in the hands of this cold blooded killer that their lives were now.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Marcos Aurelio dos Santos had a humble beginning. His mother was a washing lady, his father a construction worker. He was born in the hill, and hired as a small boy to work for the king of the hill then. He was smart though, and soon gained the confidence of the crime lord, becoming his right hand. After he died, Marcos, now a young man, took over his business, and expanded it creating a powerful empire.

Drugs, prostitution, corruption, everything he was involved. However, he considered himself to be a strict person: he and his men did not drink, did not smoke coke or crack or heroine, or any of the shit they sold to the poor souls they enslaved with their drugs.

He created an empire, and ruled over it with a tight fist. His hill kept the cops away with heavy artillery, and all people living in his hill were treated with respect by his guards.  
He knew the names of everyone living in his domain, he visited the houses of people when they gave parties, and offered gifts whenever a child was born.

All for their silence when they had to see any crime that he had to commit to keep his domain.

He thought it strange when an accountant from the city moved with his family to the hill, but when he paid attention to the scandal they were in, he understood.

The city had condemned them, and they had to take refuge in the hill to survive. The frail man he met when he visited the first time was just a broken soul, bent under the duress of the judgment of several thousand voices over his head. The wife, a small pale butterfly, was terrified of him, but still showed him grace and offered him cookies and coffee, as if he was a guest, not an intruder in their home.

But it was the girl that marked him. A slightly plump girl, with a round face with deep sorrowful eyes, surrounded by deep purple bruises, either by lack of sleep or by crying, he could not tell, and with tits that would make any man happy to bite, but it was the unfriendly gaze she stared at him that burned his nerves.

He wouldn't mind teaching the girl a lesson, but he caught the frightened stare of her father, then simply smiled charmingly and let go.

Later on, he received a visit from her father, who was an interesting man.

A very interesting man, indeed.

Now, years later, he had to deal with her again.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Tim and Tony see the king of the hill scratch his head distractedly with his gun, then he looks at them for some minutes. There is no noise in the room, but their breathing.

"You see, there are questions that I need answers, and there are two types of answers," he says in a heavily accented voice, as introduction of his conversation. He stares at Anna, then stands up and very slowly, slides his gun against her face, like a caress.

She closes her eyes, terrified, and Tim struggles not to react at the clear threat against her.  
"There are right answers and wrong answers." He completes, then returns to his chair, before the Americans.

"And your lives depend of the answers you give to my questions." He leans towards Tim, and stares at his eyes, "are you cops?"

Tim stares at him, and from the corner of his eye he sees Anna shaking her head, desperately, asking him to answer no. He looks at the gun in the hand in the drug lord, and considers his options.

If he says no, he will be lying, and he is a terrible liar, and the drug lord will read right through him, and kill him.

If he says yes, he will be telling the truth, but the drug lord will get mad at him, and will kill him.

All that goes through his mind for milliseconds, and he takes his decision.

"Yes."

The drug lord swiftly points the gun to Tim's head, and Tony struggles against his captors, who hit him in his back and throw him in the floor. Anna starts screaming in Portuguese, crying and begging for his life.

The drug lord keeps the gun pointed to Tim's head, who gulps, and thinks about his life until then.

His father, mother, Sarah. Gibbs will be pissed off he got killed during a mission, and Abby will be heartbroken. Ziva will cry a little, then hide behind her strong façade, hiding her hurt behind her Mossad training.

He then glances at Anna, who is still screaming at the king of the hill, imploring for his life. His eyes tear up, when he thinks about their only night together, and what amazing time they spent together.

His glance at Anna is not missed by the king of the hill, who smirks lightly.

"Why are you here?" he asks in an almost cool voice.

"For me, only for me, not you," says Anna, wiping her tears and looking at Tim with terrified eyes. Her hands twist incessantly before her, "they're not here for you, just for me."

"Silence." He turns, and motions to one of the guards who grabs her painfully by her hair, and she whimpers, but doesn't take her gaze away from Tim, silently begging his forgiveness.

"I'm talking to him, not you."

Tim wets his dry lips, and stares at the gun pointed to his head.

"She witnessed a crime while in America. We were ordered to come after her, find her and protect her."

The king of the hill smiles then starts chuckling. He lowers his weapon, throws his head back, and starts laughing out loud, deep belly laughs, and Tony, Tim and Anna look at him, confused at his reaction. He snorts, then wipes the laughter tears from his face, and looks at Tim again, shaking his head at the innocence of the gringo.

"What makes you think you can protect her?" he points to him, "you can't even protect yourself."

He stands up and walks up to the window, looking down the hill. He keeps his back turned to them for a moment, which Anna looks terrified at Tim and Tony, silently begging them to let her deal with him.

Tony frowns at the pain on his back, from where he was hit by one of the thugs, and says, "We're only interested in the girl, and yes, we can protect her. We have no business with you."

Tim nods, "We don't care about your business; we just want to take the girl with us. If she stays here, the criminal in US will keep sending people here, to your hill, looking for her. They won't stop until she is dead."

The king of the hill turns to them, and smiles a cynical smile, "Then we have a simple solution to our little problem."

He points the gun to Anna's head, and pulls the trigger.

* * *

a/n: NOOOOOO... Is this the end for their adventure? Give me your opinion. Review!


	17. An unexpected hand on the wheel

_**Chapter**__** 17: An unexpected hand on the wheel.  
**_

_**Portuguese expression: mão na roda  
Literal Translation: Hand on the wheel  
Meaning: help of great value.  
**_  
"NOOOOOO," shouts Tim, staring at the king of the hill, and tries to stand up and attack him, but the thugs hold him down by his arms. He looks at Anna, whose eyes are closed, and tears are running freely down her face.

He pulls the trigger again, and it clicks. The chambers are empty.

"YOU BASTARD," shouts Tony, struggling with the people holding him down, "let her go, you bastard!"

The king of the hill starts laughing at the gringos, then look at Anna, who is still crying on her knees, shaking terrified. She had just flinched when he pulled the trigger, but did not try to escape of certain death.

Marcos shakes his head, then kneels beside her, and take her chin in his big hands and force her to look at him.

Years have passed since she moved into the hill, the plump girl lost the baby fat, and became a curvaceous delicious beauty. She did not look to any man, and her mother even despaired to other mother's in the hill of ever having grandchildren, as her daughter never even looks at any man that crosses her path.

The dark brown eyes stare at him with the same defiance and terror, but do not look away from him.

The girl really had a backbone of steel, that he had to admit. He looks at the gringos, who are shaking with fury and staring daggers at his back. He lets go of her chin, and goes to the chair again.

"If I kill her, they won't have a reason to come to my domain."

"No, let her go," says Tim, staring at Anna. "We're Americans, you can keep us and ask for money to set us free, they would pay, the American consulate would negotiate with you, but let her go."

"No," shouts Anna, who throws herself at his feet, crying, "let them go, they don't belong here, they don't understand, let them go, please."

He looks at Anna, who is holding his feet, begging for the gringos' life, "I could simply kill them, and dispose of their bodies, and none would be the wiser."

"No," moans Anna, "please, do whatever you want with me, but let them go, please," she lowers her head to her arms, and sobs terrified.

"No," Tim fights with the thug, holding him by his arms, and he stares at Anna sobbing on the floor, and he feels his heart breaking with her terror. He has to protect her; he has to find a way to get her out safe of the hill.

"Keep us, and let her go. Let her escape, she's not safe here, they will come after her."

The king of the hill looks at the crying woman on the floor, and at the two gringos. He slowly scratches his goatee, thinking.

"Usually, I have people begging me not to kill them, but here I have an unexpected situation. I have people begging me to kill them, in exchange of someone else's life."

He looks at one of the thugs, and points to Anna. The hill guard goes to Anna, drags her away from his feet, and put her sitting on the corner of the house. She wipes her face, and looks at Tim, her eyes red of crying and her face bloated with her tears.

"I have another question for you gringo," he gives the unloaded gun to one of the hill guards, who gives him another one, which Tony and Tim can bet that it is loaded, "and I want an answer from you."

He points the gun to Tim's head again, and smiles, "Would you die for her?"

"NOOO," Anna sobs, but the hill guard holds her down, "no, please, don't kill him!"

He looks from the gun pointed to him to her, and sees her struggle against the hands holding her down, her stretched hands towards him. Her face marred with tears.

He blinks as he thinks of their day in Rio:

Their flight in the paraglider.

Her standing under the lights in the Royal Library.

They kissing in his penthouse, the way her sweat skin slid under his fingers, the taste of her skin, and how she surprised him yet again when she made love to him.

"Yes," he looks back at the king of the hill, and feels the certainty as calm blanket over his soul, "yes, without hesitation."

"No, please, let him go!" Anna sobs, and lowers her head, feeling exhausted by everything that happened today. "please."

The king of the hill blinks at him, and opens a big smile, "That, my friend, it's the right answer."

He lowers his gun, and signals the thug holding Anna to let her go. She jumps like a rocket into Tim's arms, and hugs him desperately, crying all over him. The thugs holding him let him go as well, and he hugs her against his chest, and he can feel shaking in terror.

He looks at the king of the hill, who is looking at the two with a satisfied smile on his face, as if he had been the one who got them together.

"What do you want from us?" asks Tony, as he sees the man is having fun with them.

"With you, nothing. I just wanted him to admit that he will protect her with his life, just that."

Anna wipes her face on her blouse sleeve which is now filthy and no longer white, and looks at the king of the hill, "why?"

He shakes his head, chuckling, "Anna, Anna, I've promised your father that I would protect you, even from yourself. I couldn't let you go with a man who could not protect you as fiercely as I did."

Anna looks shocked at him, and she feels Tim's arms tightening around her shoulders, "What are you talking about?"

He gives his gun to one of the thugs, and motions with his hand that they should leave. The hill guards get out of the room, leaving only Anna, Tim and Tony with him. Two of them, though, stay at the door of the room, as bodyguards.

Chairs are brought to them, and he points that the two Americans should sit, along with Anna. After a moment of hesitation, which they look at each other confused, they sit down before the man who had terrified them so.

"You see, Anna, your father worked for me."

Anna frowns at that information, "you are mistaken, he would never…" He nods, looking in her eyes, "he wouldn't."

Marcos sighs, "The week you moved to the hill, he came to me, and negotiated your stay here in the hill. Don't worry, he wasn't doing anything illegal." Marcos supports his chin on one of his hands, his elbow on his knees. "He gave me letters and numbers."

Tony frowns at that. "I don't understand: letters and numbers?"

Marcos nods, "He told me a man of my position should know letters and numbers, because a gun can take you just so far, but if you know letters and numbers, there was a whole new universe to be explored and conquered."

"Ricardo was teaching you how to read and write," says Tim, looking at the king of the hill surprised.

Marcos nods, "Not only me, but my men as well. Later on, he taught me English, as he told me I would need it for doing business abroad, and then thought me how to invest the money I got."

He smiles at Anna, who is staring at him horrified, "Your father was a wizard with numbers, Anna. When I met him, I was a rich man. But now, thanks to him, I'm a millionaire."

"My father… Why?"

She covers her mouth, horrified with what her father has done, without telling her.

"You."

"Me?" she starts shaking again, and Tim takes one of her hands and squeezes it.

"You see, he never accepted any payment for his services. The only thing he asked me was protection for you. None of my men ever touched you, and they were forbidden of even thinking of trying anything with you. Remember Tadeu?"

She nods, and Tim feels her shaking intensify.

"He tried to rape you when you arrived late at night coming from work two years ago, you remember that?"

She nods.

"Do you remember what happened then?"

Another nod.

"Well, my man stopped him before he finished the deed, and took him away. Nobody was ever able to find all his pieces."

Tim gulps, as he sees the calm the king of the hill talks about murder.

"So, when my men told me that you had a gringo with you, I had to come to see it. I saw you together, and then I ordered my men to follow you as you were gallivanting around the city. They saw you two together, and reported to me. And I went to speak to your father, asking what he wanted me to do with him."

Marcos, the king of the hill, points to Tim.

"You wanna know what your father told me?"

A shake of her head was her only answer.

"He told me that your gringo came to take you away, and he had already given his blessing. You were never meant to stay here, Anna, so your father told me to let you go with the gringo."

Anna is silently crying, imagining her father's last hours, and how he knew what would be her decision even before she had decided for it.

The king of the hill turns to Tim and Tony.

"But we have a problem, because the other two, they brought police to my doors. You won't be able to leave the country as you planned before, because they know there are two Americans here in the hill, and your pictures are all over the airports by now. They are telling you work for the cartels, and your prison has already been ordered."

"But that's a lie!"

He shakes his head at the innocence of the foreigners, as gringos are unaware how the justice system works down in the tropics. Here, you are guilty until you are proved innocent, not the other way around.

"It doesn't matter, until you prove that it's a lie, your life will already be ruined and Anna will be left unprotected."

He looks to Anna, and waves to one of his men, who drops Anna's backpack and a full duffel bag in front of the Americans.

"Here is what we will do: my men will take you out of the hill in motorcycles, while the rest distract the cops. As soon as you get to the avenue down there, there will be a car waiting for you. You will board the car, and it will take you to Jacarepagua airport, where my jet will take you to America. Once in America, you're on your own."

He stands up, and goes to the duffel bag, brings it closer to the Americans, and opens it. Their eyes become huge as they see the amount of money in it. Several blocks of American dollars piled in an unorganized way in the bag.

"This is your father's part on my business, you will need it to start your life in America."

She looks at the money, shaking her head, "I can't take it."

"Yes, you can. It's not dirty money." She looks at him, and he shrugs.

"Your father insisted that I should invest in the stock market, and this is his share on the profit."

Tony looks from the money to him, "Why are you helping us?"

The king of the hill frowns and closes the duffel bag slowly, and sets it aside.

"You see, I liked Ricardo. He was an amazing man. He never asked me anything besides protection for his daughter. He didn't want power, money, women. Nothing. Just wanted his daughter safe. And still, he was killed right under my nose, in my watch."

He stands up, signaling that their conversation was over.

"My men are ready to take you away. Have a good trip, and I hope I never see you again."

He turns around and starts leaving, just to be stopped by Anna.

"Marcos."

He freezes, and glances at her, standing with the gringo's arm around her shoulder, her backpack with her precious camera in her hand. The other gringo, with dark hair, had the duffel bag on his hand.

_"Obrigada."  
_  
He smiles, nods at her, and leaves.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They left the hill under the cover of the night, while fireworks were burning bright in the sky and the police was distracted of their escape by an organized attack in a neighbor hill. They were taken by motorcycles to the meeting point, and hurried into a luxurious bullet proof Ford, which sped through the night all the way to the small airport of Jacarepagua.

There, a small Learjet had already been fueled and was ready to departure. The silent hill guard who drove the Ford guided them until the door of the private plane, and the two Americans rushed to board it. Anna, however, stopped to look back at the hill guard.

_"Obrigada, Carlão." _

She says her goodbye softly, and the tall black man opens a big smile, and opens his arms. She jumps on him, and he hugs her tightly against his chest.

Tim stops at the stairs, and looks at Anna, who is saying goodbye.

_"Seu pai foi um homem bom, nunca se esqueça disso. __Afinal, ele fez você." (Your father was a good man, never forget that. He made you, after all)_ says the tall black man, against her hair, and steps back, and looks at the gringo who is taking her away, and points his finger, as if a gun, "_e você, cuide dela, ein." (and you, better take care of her.)_

Tim nods, and stretches his hand to help Anna up. They enter the jet, and the door is closed.

The tall hill guard watches as the airplane starts moving, and he stays until it takes off and turns in the sky, a small bright light going to America.

He smiles, and says silently to Ricardo in heaven, _"Essa sua filha vai longe, Ricardo." (This daughter of yours has a future, Ricardo.)  
_  
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain. You may unfasten your seatbelts. In a little less than ten hours, we will be in Miami. There are refreshments in the fridge, and there is a small restroom here in the cabin, as well as bedroom with another restroom in the back."

Tim and Tony undo their seatbelts and glance at Anna, who is frozen in her place, hugging her backpack which holds her precious camera. She hasn't spoken a single word since they took off fifteen minutes ago.

Tim approaches her, and slowly moves her hands away from the backpack. She doesn't react when he takes the backpack from her lap, still staring ahead without any reaction.

"Anna, would you like to have something to eat? We hadn't had lunch or dinner, and I know you must be starving."

She blinks, and looks out of the airplane, to the blinking lights of the city she's leaving behind.

"Not hungry."

Tim sighs, and looks at Tony, who shrugs at Tim. "Listen, I'm really sorry for –"

"I should have been there."

He looks at her, and sees that her eyes are filling with tears again, as she thinks on her parents.

"I should have died with them."

"No, no," he sits beside her, and takes one of her hands in his, "you shouldn't. Your father wouldn't want you to do that."

"Yeah, but what he wants and what he does are very different, aren't they?" she says bitterly. "How could he work for _him_? Why?"

"Anna, -"

"All that talk about doing the right thing, it was just empty words, weren't they?"

She looks at Tim, and he is sad to see how broken with what she sees as her father's betrayal to their moral values.

"How could he?"

"He did it for you, Anna." Says Tony, softly, but she gets incensed.

"NO, HE DIDN'T. I NEVER ASKED HIM TO." She stands up, and goes to the back of the airplane, where there is a small bedroom.

Tim stands up and follows her, but she closes the door and locks it.

"Anna, open the door."

"GO TO HELL, TIMOTHY!"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

_**Washington DC  
Gibbs basement  
1:15 am  
**_  
Gibbs takes another gulp of his bourbon, and puts his improvised cup on the counter, and turns back to his boat. He slides his hand over the quill, and over the soft wood. He leans closer to the wood, and closes his eyes as his nostrils are inundated with the smell of freshly cut timber.

He opens his eyes, and studies its lines, seeing if they are to his satisfaction. He supports his hands on the support and looks to the floor.

His gut has been churning the whole afternoon and evening.

McGee and DiNozzo hadn't reported to check in Rio de Janeiro airport, and they hadn't made their checkouts of the hotel.

Abby and Ziva had tried several times to contact them, but for some reason their phones went straight to voice mail.

Something went wrong.

And he was half way across the world, only with a gut feeling to guide him. He had stayed with Ziva in the bullpen until ten pm, waiting for their call, but they didn't contact him.

No email, no phone call, no nothing.

His boys were in trouble, and there was nothing he could do.

His phone rings, and he rushes to answer it. Maybe it's them, and he is simply wrong.

"Gibbs."

"Turn on ZNN, Jethro, now." Says Fornell, in a serious voice.

"Tobias, to what I owe the pleasure."

"I don't have time for your games, Jethro. Turn your TV on, now."

Gibbs goes around his boat, and starts fidgeting with the small color TV he has in the basement. Finally he turns it on, and tunes it on ZNN.

"What I'm supposed to see, Tobias."

"Just wait."

Gibbs sighs, and stares at the TV.

"Now, pay attention to this one," says Fornell.

Gibbs frowns, as the international report starts.

_"And directly from Rio de Janeiro, a new wave of violence takes the streets of the Wonderful city. Everything started when the police tried to storm one of the most dangerous hills of the city, governed by Marcos Aurelio de Souza, aka, Marcao, one of the most cruel drug lords in the city._

_There are reports of several people injured, and some deaths have been confirmed._

_The local police also informed that they are in the hunt of four international drug dealers, two of them last seen on this footage, negotiating their access to the hill with the armed hill guards._

_They haven't yet been identified, but an all out search has been announced, with the airports all being alerted that they are armed and dangerous._

_The violence has escalated into catastrophic proportions, and the hill guards prepared an offensive against the police, escalating to a full out war in the streets of Rio._

_Civilians run afraid, terrified of being caught between the gun fight between drug dealers and the police._

_Now the local news."_

Gibbs stares stupefied to the news, and for a moment he can't even think about what to do.

"Now tell me, Jethro, since when McGee and DiNozzo are international drug dealers, and why the hell are they in Rio inciting a revolution?"


	18. Don't you cry over the spilled milk

_**Chapter**__** 18: Don't you cry over the spilled milk, babe!**_

_**Portuguese idiom: Chorar o leite derramado  
Literal translation: to cry over the spilt milk.  
Meaning: to cry or regret something you cannot change  
**_  
Tony and Tim had a light snack with some sandwiches they raided from the fridge. Tony, after visiting the bathroom, simply lay on one sofa and prepares to sleep for a few hours. Tim prepares a small sandwich, and knocks on the door with his small peace offering.

"Anna, we have something here for you to eat."

She hadn't made any noise for several hours. And he was starting to get worried. He touches his forehead against the door, and closes his eyes, frustrated with her stubbornness.

"Anna can you just…"

He hears the lock turning, and he smiles when the door opens just a small gap, her face appearing on it, staring at him with her big brown eyes.

"Dinner," he waves the sandwich. She sighs, and opens the door for him to enter, and glances out. She sees Tony sleeping on the sofa, his hand falling from it and his legs folded, in a vain attempt to fit his six foot plus in the small sofa.

"He fell asleep, we're all tired." He says, looking at her as she closes the door of the bedroom after him, and locks it.

She had changed clothes, her filthy once white blouse is lying on the floor, and now she has a bright green t-shirt on, that she found in one of the drawers. Barefoot, she also cleaned her arms and her face of the dust and filthy that had accumulated during their hours crawling on the roofs of the hill, and later on the floor of the house talking with the king of the hill.

"I told you before, I'm not hungry." She says as she sits on the bed, and plays with the rim of her t-shirt.

"You have to eat something, you can't run the whole day on empty." He sits beside her, and he unwraps the sandwich. "here, just a bite."

She looks at him, then at the sandwich. She licks her lips, then leans over him, and holds the sandwich in her hands, without taking it out of his, and bites the sandwich.

She moans as she eats it, as she was indeed hungry, and grabs the sandwich from his hand and starts devouring it.

"There's more, if you—" he freezes, as he sees her licking her fingers with closed eyes, sighing content with the food he just provided. She opens her eyes, and looks at him who is staring at her with an expression that she is starting to recognize.

"Ahm…" he gulps, and their eyes meet.

She finishes the sandwich slowly, enjoying each bite, and he stares at her mute as she throws the wrapping to the floor. Still looking at his face, she kneels on the bed, and under his gaze, she takes her t-shirt off and throws it at the floor. Her bra follows the same path.

"Anna, I think we—"

Her skirt flies to the floor, then her knickers.

She lays down on the pillows, grabs him by his shirt and brings him over her, without saying a word.

They look at each other's eyes for a moment, and he plays with her curly hair, the soft curls under his fingers.

"Don't make me beg, Tim." She whispers in a low voice.

He nods, and kisses her.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"They shouldn't have died like this."

Tim tightens his hold around her shoulders, and kisses her forehead. They are in the small bedroom on the back of the private Learjet of a powerful drug lord, and it is shaking with a little bit of turbulence.

"No, they shouldn't."

"It's my fault."

He wiggles a little, so he can look at her face, lying on the pillow instead of his shoulder.

"No, it's not. It's mine." She frowns, but he nods at her confusion. "I knew the dangers. I knew they would come looking for you. I should have put you and your parents under protection as soon as we found you."

She smirks, and turns her back at him, grabs a pillow and hugs it, staring at the wall of the airplane.

"You and what army? Until Monday morning, I was sure that I would say goodbye to you, and live on my life as if I had never met you."

He sighs, frustrated, and stares at the low ceiling of the airplane. Amazing what you can buy when you have an unlimited supply of money. Even if it is dirty money, but money nonetheless.

"Am I that unremarkable that you would simply forget me? Never to think of me again?"

She turns, and looks at him, who is now pouting and frowning at the ceiling. He turns hurt eyes at her, and sits on the bed and puts some pillows behind his back, and sits on it.

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what? What did you mean?" he looks frustrated at her. "Oh, thanks for taking the burden of my virginity away, now I can go party? Or thanks for being great in the sack, now I have to keep on living my life."

She sits down, looks at him, and sighs. He's hurt, and it's all her fault.

"I never meant to hurt you or to deceive you, Tim."

He turns hurt eyes at her, and she continues, "You just have to understand that I have stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago. I don't believe in happy endings. Even thinking of you being interested on me was beyond my grasp. Imagining that you would want me around, that's mind boggling. I didn't dare hope that because, in the end, you would leave and I would have to stay."

He looks at her with folded arms, and he thinks about what she said.

"But things are different now, it doesn't have to be that way."

He opens his arms. She sits beside him and leans against his chest. He tightens his hold on her.

"We'll see how things work out when we get to America, but one thing I can assure you." She looks up at him, and he says with a small smile, "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

She smiles back, closes her eyes, and leans against his chest to sleep.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The Learjet lands in a small private airport in Miami early in the morning. They get out of the airplane, and they see that the mechanics start fueling it again to make the return trip.

They are guided by a mechanic to the hangar, where they get their passports stamped without any fuss, and told that there is a car with the keys on the contact waiting for them just outside.

They nod their appreciation, and as they walk out they see the Learjet already on the runway taxing to takeoff. They stop to look at it for some minutes, and when the Learjet is just a small dot on the sky flying back to South America, they throw the duffel bag and Anna's backpack in the backseat and leave the airport.

They left Rio de Janeiro and arrived in United States.

Now they had a whole different multitude of problems to face yet.

* * *

a/n: Have our heroes finally left their problems behind? Or they now have to face a powerful faceless enemy? Please stay tuned for the next updates, which unfortunatelly won't be so soon as real life has a way to meddle with my writing chronogram. Meanwhile, review! It makes me happy!


	19. He has many pineapples to peel

_**a/n: I'M BAAACK! **_I'm trying to finish this one, and I truly apologize for the long time between updates. I'm going to try to keep the chapters coming. I have most of them ready, they just need some polishing.

Thanks for all those who reviewed and made this adventure even more fun for Tim and Tony.

And be nice and review at the end of the chapter.

* * *

_**Chapter 19: He has many pineapples to peel**_

_**Portuguese expression: Descascar o abacaxi  
Literal meaning: to peel a pineapple  
Meaning: To solve a problem which apparently no one else can solve it. Pineapples are an endearment term for 'problem'. They have thorns, they have leaves that might cut your hand and they are very, very hard to peel.**_

_**NCIS headquarters  
Washington DC  
Navy Yard**_

_**8:05 am**_

Gibbs enters the bullpen with a coffee cup on his hand, his third that morning. His hurried steps take him to Ziva, who is on the phone speaking in rapid Spanish with someone who is struggling to answer back in the same language.

She disconnects, and turns to Gibbs, giving him her report.

"According to the authorities I've spoken to in Rio, the official death count now is eight people, with sixteen wounded."

"Any news of DiNozzo or McGee?"

"None. All locals, no one has been identified as a foreigner so far."

Gibbs looks at the screen, where a loop of the ZNN video is playing, "Any news from the American Consulate in Rio?"

"They confirmed that Tony and McGee went there yesterday morning to collect their passports around 10:11 am, leaving a little bit before eleven. Then we were able to place them in Anna's office building, and later on they went to their hotel room, where they spoke to us. The hotel confirmed that the three of them left around 3:30 pm, and had requested a taxi to be waiting for them at the hotel to take them to the airport for 7 pm. They never made it back to the hotel."

Gibbs nods, and turns to her, "Have you spoken to the Police authorities who were in the tactical strike team? The ones who were with the TV crew that filmed them?"

She nods tiredly, as she had been up and awake trying to speak to the authorities in Rio since four in the morning.

"They informed that they were investigating a possible drug cartel link, as they were following two suspected drug soldiers since their arrival at the International Airport in Rio two days ago. The suspects, after going around the city for two days, they went straight to the slumhouse where Anna lives, and walked into it without problems, without even being stopped by the hill guards. When Tony and Tim arrived, along with Anna, they simply assumed they were part of the band of mercenaries and added them to their roll of targets to be arrested. During their attempt to invade the hill, Tony and Tim were not located, and the Brazilian cops were forced to retreat as they were received with heavy artillery."

Ziva rubs her head and walks around her desk to stand before Gibbs, and sees the strain on Gibbs' face due to the lack of news of Tony and Tim. He hadn't slept the whole night, trying to contact everyone and anyone down in South America with information on the two missing agents.

"That's when things get hinky."

He looks at her, his cold blue eyes finally leaving the ZNN report.

"Why?"

Ziva goes to the computer, and loads some extra video footage from the mess in Rio streets.

"Apparently, a couple of hours later, after the cops left the hill where Tony and McGee went missing, the hill guards of that place decided to come down their protected positions and have a shootout right in the open, attracting the cops away from there. They invaded on purpose a rival's hill a couple of miles away, creating a turf war in such proportions that the police was forced to interfere in big numbers. They relocated most of their men to the place where they were battling. From there, the chaos spread out to the streets in never seen before proportions, resulting on the mess we saw on TV."

Gibbs lowers his head and stares at the floor, his mind furiously working on the information given.

"What's hinky about that?"

"Despite the fact that the drug lords had had turf wars before, none had been expected for yesterday. These kind of things usually snowball down hill, with a crescent tension that finally culminates with the type of confronts we saw yesterday. However, specifically in this case, there were no signs of tension between the two factions which fought yesterday. Up until then, each had stayed in their own area of influence. It's almost like –"

"It was a planned move," interrupts Gibbs, lifting his eyes to look at Ziva's worried face. "They wanted the cops as far away as possible from their hill, and the only way to achieve that was to create enough havoc to drawn everyone away from there."

Ziva nods tiredly, as all the evidence at hand points to that.

"The problem is we do not know the reason why they wanted the cops away; we just know that they wanted no possible interference to do whatever they wanted to do."

"Gibbs!" shouts Abby, running to Gibbs' side out of breath, with a small printout on her hand a short tanned woman with almond eyes beside her.

"Hi Abby, I was coming down to see you."

She takes deep breaths, and points to the small woman, with soft curly hair down to her shoulder and tanned skin, who waves shyly at Gibbs and Ziva.

"This is Erica Marques, she's speech specialist from the Jeffersonian Museum in Latin American Cultures, specifically Brazilian culture."

Ms. Marques smiles a thin smile and lifts her hand to say hello. "Hi"

Abby keeps talking without giving Gibbs the chance of asking what she is doing, "I've contacted the Jeffersonian asking for their help to get a transcript of the conversation on the video. You know like when I do the lip reading thing on our videos."

Gibbs and Ziva approach Abby, looking interested at the news.

"So, what have you got, Abs?"

Abby smiles and points to Ms. Marques.

"Well," Marques says, "the basic transcript of the conversation is short and to the point."

Abby hurries to put the short video footage they have of Tony and Tim talking with Anna and the hill guards. Abby starts playing the video and Marques translates what she can.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

_**Man with gun without shirt 1**__: "Tá tendo muita visita aí, ein Anna?" (You're having a lot of visitors, Anna?)_

_**Anna**__: "Por quê?"(Why?)_

_**Man with gun without shirt 2:**__ "Ué , primeiro esses dois branquelos ai, depois mais dois gringos chegaram ai hoje, sacou?" __(First these two white men, then two other gringos arrived today, got it?)_

_**Man without shirt 1, as he sees Tony and Tim drawing weapons: **__"Olha a polícia, bixo!" (They're cops!)_

_**Anna, stepping in front to Tim and Tony trying to protect them from the Hill guards:**__ "Eles não são nossa policia, eles estão aqui pra me proteger!" __(They're not cops, they are here to protect me!) _

_**Anna, pointing up to the hill:**__ "Os homens que vocês deixaram subir, eles são assassinos que estão atrás de mim, e vocês deixaram eles subir pra falar com os meus pais!" __(The men you left go up, they are killers who are after me, and you left them go talk to my parents!)_

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Ziva, Abby and Gibbs stay in silence for a moment, absorbing the enormity of what they found out.

"Oh my God," whispers Abby, turning tearful eyes to Gibbs.

Ziva stares horrified at the plasma screen, "they found her," she looks at Gibbs, and she can see the frown on his face, as he considers the situation.

"Whoever is our killer sent those two gorillas who found where she lived, and Tony and McGee walked right into it, with the local cops and the drug lord guards fighting and shooting each other in a Mexican standoff," says Gibbs, staring at the plasma with a serious expression.

It's in moments like this that he felt the burden of responsibility sitting heavily on his shoulders. Somehow, it had been more acceptable to loose men in combat while he had been in the marines. But the idea of loosing his boys, his honorary family, almost hurt like a piece of his own flesh had been torn out of him. Especially in a senseless battle that wasn't even theirs.

"Agent Gibbs," says Vance, who appears out of nowhere behind the agents. Gibbs turns around to stare at the Director, who has his usual poker face on, not letting on anything that he might be thinking. "MTAC, now."

Abby and Ziva look at each other, then at Gibbs. He in turn nods silently at the Director and follows him upstairs, towards the MTAC room. The two men enter the darkened room, and the Director nods to the tech who immediately start trying to get into touch with whoever he wanted to talk to.

"Agent Gibbs, care to explain to me why I had to explain to SecNav this morning that, no, our NCIS agents are not South American Cartel soldiers and ahh, no_, I have no idea what they are doing in Rio de Janeiro inciting a revolution!" _

The last words come out in a growl, such is the fury Vance is feeling right now. Receiving a dressing down from SecNav in his first five minutes in the office this morning definitely wasn't the way he had planned to start his morning that day.

"Agents DiNozzo and McGee are investigating a possible lead under my orders," says Gibbs.

"Agents DiNozzo and McGee should investigate possible leads in this country, not create international incidents which are transmitted live into all news channels of the world."

Both men stare at each other for a long time, until the muttered voice of the MTAC technician interrupts the silent battle of wills.

"Sir, we're online."

Vance turns to the huge screen, where the image of a tanned man in a gray uniform appears. His colored pins neatly make a silent statement of his accomplishments on the police force, his eyes and lines in his face a silent testimony of the horrors he had to see during his years working in a silent battle for power, surrounded by enemies from all sides.

"Colonel Rafael Martins, I'm Director Vance, we spoke briefly on the phone a couple of minutes ago. Let me introduce you to Special Agent Gibbs. He is the supervisor of the two missing agents we are currently seeking in Rio de Janeiro."

The tanned man nods to Gibbs, who studies the colonel silently for a minute.

"Agent Gibbs, this is Colonel Rafael Martins, international liason of the Special Operations Team of the Brazilian Military Police, commonly known as BOPE," says Vance, doing the formal introductions.

"Are you the one who sent your lambs to slaughter?" The colonel doesn't mince words, nor irony, in his tone of voice. However, Gibbs had faced tougher military men before, so he's not easily intimidated.

"I've sent highly trained agents into a simple extraction mission. I've sent no lambs. What can you tell me about the situation in Rio. Do you have any idea where my agents might be?"

Colonel shakes his head, "Whoever is not familiar with the territory, even if they are highly trained officers, they are just lambs in here. You can't send your men in there without proper cover. These drug lords are animals: they think like predators, they act like predators and they will kill anything in their way."

"I'm not here to listen about your problems in your own backyard. What I want to know is where are my men? What can you report to us then, Colonel?"

Colonel stares at the camera for a moment, thinking about how much he should disclose to the gringos.

"Usually if there are any witnesses they wish to dispose off, the hill guards arrange so they are swiftly murdered and the bodies never recovered. If they are recovered, they are beyond recognition."

"Are you implying that you've found their bodies?" Gibbs is able to ask without showing his inner turmoil. _Ah, his boys…_

"No, I'm saying that, after the mess in the streets last night, we were guided on purpose to an vacant lot where we found two bodies burnt beyond recognition. They were barbecued."

Both Gibbs and Vance stare blankly at the Brazilian Colonel, who soon recognizes that they didn't get his meaning.

"Barbecued?"

"That's a traditional way the drug lords dispose of traitors or rats in their organization. They tie them down and put them standing inside pneumatic tires. A little bit of gasoline over them and a lit match, you have a bonfire that won't be easily put out. The fire stops only after all organic and rubber matter is burnt to crisps."

Gibbs can't hide his horror to the information he is hearing.

"And they do it to people still alive?" asks Vance horrified, staring at the Colonel, who simply shrugs.

"Depending on their crime, yes. If the drug lord is merciful and it's a minor crime, a swift bullet on the back of the head before the burning is granted to the sorry SOB."

"Do you have an ID of the bodies?"

The colonel shakes his head, crushing any feeble hope in Gibbs' chest.

"As I said, they were burnt beyond recognition. Besides, after burning them, the bastards were careful enough to crack the jaws open and take each of their teeth out with a plier in order to avoid identification by dental records. I'm sorry."

Gibbs stares for a long time moment at the colonel, not expressing anything of his inner turmoil behind his blue eyes.

"Send us the bodies, Colonel Martins. We'll do our best to do the identification on our side and, if they are our agents, we at least will have their bodies to bury them with dignity," says Vance, already imagining the public relations nightmare it will be if they really are his agents.

The colonel nods, and stops for a moment, staring at Gibbs as if he could read his most intimate fears.

"I've lost many men in this war, and I've always suffered with each and every young life lost in this stupid war. I can't say with certainty that these are your men, but I also can't say that they aren't. Their body build doesn't match the people we usually see in the hill, and their clothes - at least what's left of them - were of obvious better quality than those of the lost souls who we usually find in our turf. I just wish that this nightmare ends… someday… and you might find your men safe and sound."

Gibbs silently salutes the colonel. He's not a bad man, just another soldier fighting a war that he is completely aware that he is unprepared, under armed and surrounded by enemies on all sides. He does what he can do with the resources he had; the corrupt system he lives in is the one who ends up burning up good men and destroying everyone in its path.

"Thanks, Colonel."

The transmission is cut, and Gibbs turns to look at Vance, who is glaring at him with his ever present scowl.

"Now, how do you expect me to tell their families that we _might_ have bodies for them to bury? Bodies which were burnt and carefully desecrated in a way identification is not possible to be done?"

Gibbs keeps staring right back a t Vance, not giving him an inch, when his phone rings. He opens his phone and sees an unknown number from … Is that Miami area code?

"Gibbs," he growls on the phone, still glaring at Vance.

"Hey, Boss, did you miss me?" DiNozzo's voice comes from the line, making Gibbs look startled at Vance.


	20. Don't wanna be a fish out of water…

_**Chapter 20: Don't wanna be, oh, no, don't wanna be a fish out of water…**_

_**Portuguese expression: Peixe fora d'água  
Literal meaning: A fish out of water  
meaning: Someone out of their natural environment **_

"Boss?" DiNozzo asks again after the silence inundates the line on Gibbs' end.

"DiNozzo, you and McGee better have a damn good reason why you two failed to report to the airport yesterday! Why didn't you call me?" Gibbs growls at the phone, and DiNozzo can almost hear his teeth grinding against each other.

"Oh, Boss, I've always known you cared!" he says in a joyful voice, and he cringes when he hears Gibbs growling his name again.

Thank God he's not anywhere close, otherwise Gibbs would headslap him until he was brain damaged.

"You see, Boss, we kind of ran into a difficult situation, and we had to take an alternative escape route."

"_Situation_? DiNozzo, you are being hunted by the Police as Cartel soldiers! The video of the two of you negotiating with the hill guards is being broadcasted in all channels in National Television! And I was just informed that you two could possibly be the bodies they are charting over to NCIS, bodies which were burnt and desecrated beyond recognition! Do you call that a difficult _situation_?"

DiNozzo turns around on the small telephone booth of the Lou's Dinner, somewhere in the suburbs of Miami, and cringes at the suspicious look the big fat waitress behind the counter throws at him. Anna and McGee decided to use the break to go to the bathroom, and from the telephone booth he could see McGee approaching one of the tables and settling down to order food. The place is empty as it's quite early, and the hordes of the breakfast are gone and the people coming for lunch are not in yet.

"Really? They have a video of that? Do I look good in it?"

"DiNozzo!"

"Boss, whatever is shown on that video doesn't represent not even ten percent of what has happened to us since the last time we've spoken to you. Believe me, our explanation is very good."

"How did you get to Miami?"

DiNozzo frowns as a buxom blonde waitress approaches McGee and looks at him with a suspicious look on her face. She turns around and stares at the television for a minute, then looks at McGee again.

"Long story, not something that I would like to reveal in an unsecure line. Listen, any chance you could come to us? We have a _package_ to deliver and it's very fragile right now, we need specialized assistance for this."

Gibbs stays in silence for a moment, and DiNozzo can hear him talking to someone in the background.

"Do you have the _package_?"

DiNozzo turns his back to the diner, and stares at the peeling paint on the wall of the telephone booth he is currently using.

"Yes, we do. But there are some scratches on it, and the core might be a little out of balance, if you get my meaning. It has been banged a little bit, so we are taking our utmost care with the … _package._"

Gibbs speaks for a while with someone on the other side of the line, then he returns to the line.

"I'm taking the first flight out to Miami. Where can we meet?"

"We´ll be staying at the Comfort Suits Miami, just across the Kendal Regional Medical Center. Can you please arrange us new badges? Ours, well, they stole it back in Rio, so we don't have any other ID than our passports right now."

Gibbs talks to someone, then comes back to the line again.

"I'll do it. Meanwhile, keep your heads down and be as low profile as possible. They have been broadcasting your pictures, and I don't want another incident happening before I get over there, did I make myself clear, DiNozzo? Stay out of trouble."

"Loud and clear, Boss," DiNozzo feels that there is someone behind him, and tries to end the call, "I gotta go, Boss." He turns his head to whoever is behind him, "just a second, I'm almost finished."

He freezes when he hears the sound of a Winchester shotgun being cocked behind his ear, and a deep baritone voice speaking, "ah, but you are finished, mister, yes you are."

He turns around slowly, and stares down at the barrels of a Winchester that apparently the cook, a tall white man with beefy arms whose red face was twisted in a scowl wearing a white apron that had seen better days, was pointing at him.

"Boss?" DiNozzo squeaks softly.

"Yes DiNozzo."

"Remember the problem that you told us to avoid?"

"Uhm…"

_"It just found us." _

The cook stretches his hand and takes the phone and slams it back into the cradle, and motions to DiNozzo to go McGee's table. McGee, on the other hand, is sitting on the table as a hostage of a knife-wielding waitress who is pointing a very wicked and sharp kitchen knife to his throat.

"Listen, this must be some kind of mistake."

"No, there isn't. You creeps dare to enter our restaurant. This is a place for God fearing people, you drug soldiers better learn that they should not mess with Big Lou. I'm calling the cops, he's my buddy and he is on his way to collect you. So seat your little drugged ass over there and wait for them."

"What the hell is happening here?" a voice interrupts his tirade, and both Tim and Tony look at Anna, who is staring at the crazy scene with huge eyes. She just left the ladies room where she tried to freshen up and changed out of the dirty clothes into the new ones they've bought on the Wallmart down the road.

"Oh, hi Anna, we're just…" Tim looks up at the angry waitress and shuts up when the waitress touches his neck with the knife.

"_Five minutes. _ I leave you two alone for _five minutes _ and you've already pissed off people enough so they want to kill you? What are you, trouble magnets?" Anna asks in an astonished voice, as she stares from one NCIS agent to the other.

"Listen, we –" Tony tries to take a step towards Anna, but the cook lifts the Winchester and makes it quite clear that he knows how to use it and he is willing to use it.

"Are you with these scumbags?" growls the cook, and Anna sighs as she stares at him.

"Yes, I am."

"Voluntarily?"

"Yes, sir. Could you please lower your weapon? I believe harming a Federal Agent is a crime in this country."

The cook and the waitress look at her confused.

"Federal Agents?" the buxom waitress asks, "but in the TV they said they were Cartel killers, drug dealers from Rio de Janeiro!"

"TV?" asks Tim, who glances at Tony who nods at him.

"Apparently the Brazilian police made a video of us entering the hill yesterday, and they are presenting us as bad guys."

"Cartel killers?" Anna repeats, and she turns to look at Tim, then at Tony and she smiles, then she hiccups and starts laughing hysterically. Both civilians look at the Latina as if she lost her mind. She holds her middle, and after wiping her face from laughter tears she says,

"Please, and you believe in everything they say in the television. _Hellloooooo, _ have you forgotten the little episode with the _weapons of mass destruction?_ Come on, man, think by yourself, do you really think that he looks like a ruthless killer?" she points to McGee, who immediately does his best impression of a puppy face, down to the begging eyes and pouting lips.

"What about him?" she points to DiNozzo, who immediately does his best impersonation of 'who, me?' and assumes a helpless expression on his face. "Ok, he does have the looks of someone crazy, but who wouldn't after the days we had been through? We've been shot at, kidnapped, dragged through dirt and escaped only with our lives. Please, put the weapon down."

Her tirade wipes the smile from DiNozzo's face, who looks scowling at her. She ignores DiNozzo's frown and takes a step toward the gun wielding man.

"Listen, believe me, I know you are a good person trying to do the right thing. But right now, you are doing the wrong one. They are here to protect me, they are not bad guys."

The waitress is not easily convinced, even though Lou is starting to change his mind and lowers a little his shotgun.

"Then what were they doing in Rio negotiating with drug dealers? We saw the video, yes ma'am; they were there, doing dirty business!"

Anna sits on one of the seats by the counter, and nods to her, "They were there negotiating my freedom. You see, they went there to save me from a very difficult situation, and they brought me here, risking their lives and their hides to ensure that I could be talking to you today. They are not criminals. So please, put down your knife, and you, sir," she looks at the cook, "your gun. They are good guys. They've saved me."

The waitress, whose name tag loudly announced that her name was Linda, looks down at McGee, who again uses his puppy dog face.

"Are you really a Fed?"

"Yes, ma'am," he says in his best choir boy voice.

She stares at him for another moment, then takes the knife away from his neck. He sighs deeply, and looks at Anna who smiles at him brightly, before looking at Lou, who lowers the barrel of the Winchester and points it to the floor.

"If you are Feds, why didn't you identify yourself? Where's your badge?" growls Lou, and Tony shrugs.

"It's hard to talk when you have a shotgun pointed to your brains. Besides –" Tony is interrupted by Anna, who is barely restraining her mirth.

"They were robbed as soon as they arrived in my country."

"Ah Come on," says McGee, and Anna just looks at him and chuckles.

"They were ripped off by some lower rank thief and left just with the clothes they were using," she says giggling, and finally the ridiculousness of their situation hits everyone, who start chuckling with her. "That was before almost dying of food poisoning and before being almost ran over a human stampede during rivals football teams' fight."

"Let's not forget being hunted by heartless killers and by corrupt cops who thought we were cartel soldiers," says Tony.

"And also almost being killed by the hill drug lord, who decided to play Russian roulette with my head and hers," says Tim, pointing to Anna, who sobers up at that memory.

She sighs deeply, and looks tiredly at Lou, who has already relaxed his shoulders and wasn't looking at them as if they were criminals, after they related everything they've been through.

"Sir, we're bone tired, we're in desperate need of a shower and we're hungry. We just want this nightmare to end," says Anna, and Lou sighs walking around the counter and putting his Winchester back under the counter. He glances at Linda who goes back to her position behind the counter, and looks at Anna, who sits straighter on the seat and leans towards him.

"What do you want to eat?"

At that moment, the phone starts ringing, and Tony glances at it. Lou signals for him to answer it, so Tony runs towards it and picks it up.

It's Gibbs.

"DINOZZO, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING OVER THERE!"

"Well, Boss, apparently Anna just saved our sorry hides from certain death."

"What?"

"She talked our way out of a dangerous situation and now she is…" he frowns, as he sees Anna talking animatedly with Lou, pointing at things on his plastic menu, and the gigant cook is … smiling?

"She is…" McGee walks towards her, and both look at the menu. McGee whispers something on her ear, who turns to Lou and nods. She stands and walks with Lou to the kitchen, and starts collecting some legumes and meat to prepare a meal. "She is now teaching how to cook to our potential killer."

"She is what?" Gibbs can't hide his confusion from his senior agent, who leans out of the telephone booth to see Anna showing some onions to Lou. She expertly starts chopping then, and throwing olive oil on a pan, putting on the burner, all under the watchful eyes of Lou, Linda and Tim.

"This is how my mom usually does it." She pauses and frowns, and completes, "at least, how she usually did it, you chop the onions and …"

"She's teaching the bad angry cook with a big gun how to prepare one of her mom's recipes."

"DiNozzo, are you out of your mind?"

Tony returns to the upright position, and hears the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen. Maybe, just maybe, things are starting to work out for them.

"No, Boss. I think I'm, for the first time since we've began this trip, perfectly fine."


	21. So they fill sausages to pass the time

a/n: Sorry it took me a while to update. Real life sucks sometimes.

* * *

**_Chapter 21: So they fill sausages to pass the time_**

**_Portuguese idiom: Encher linguiça  
Literal Meaning: to fill sausages  
Meaning: to do mindless activities just to pass the time. To give pointless explanations to reach into a conclusion, that usually doesn't mean anything of value. So, basically, just do nothing. _**

After a filling meal with fillets marinated with rich dark sauce, rice risotto with onions, peppers, coriander and a fresh leaves salad - recipes that Anna wrote down for Lou to try again later. Tim, Tony and Anna leave the small dinner and go to the Comfort Suits Miami, a nice cozy hotel just a couple of blocks from Lou's dinner, where they book an Executive suite to rest and wait until Gibbs arrive in Miami.

As soon as they enter the double room suite, Tony calls Gibbs again who informs them that he was able to book only the 6:50 pm United flight to Miami, arriving late at night. They would all rest in Miami that evening, flying towards DC the following morning.

They separate a room for Anna while the NCIS agent would share the other one. As soon as Anna is alone in the privacy of the room, she runs to the bathroom and takes a long hot shower, scrubbing her skin vigorously as the images of the last twenty four hours flash before her eyes.

The day they spent in Rio, the night she spent with Tim, his gentleness and loving care with her. The return to the hill. Her last conversation with her father it was so heartbreaking and so true.

Her father was sick, and he was aware that his days on Earth had been numbered. But he didn't deserve to be shot down like a rabid dog, by heartless killers sent by a devious man from another country. Sometimes, life was just unfair.

The time with king of the hill when she was sure that at least one of them - or all three - would end up dead. The surprise of discovering her father's involvement with Marcos' business ventures. All that rushes before her eyes like a speeding bullet, she feels overwhelmed with everything that has happened. She slowly sits on the floor of the shower, her back to the white wall, hugs her folded legs and starts sobbing, the sound of running water covering her pure despair.

As the water looses pressure and becomes cold, she leaves her position on the floor and closes the water. She gets two of the fluffy hotel towels, one she folds around her wet body and other around her wet hair, like a turban, and goes to her room.

She moves the duvet out of the way, throws the wet towels on a chair by the closed windows, and dives in the soft bed. Covering her head with the duvet she silently wishes that, when she finally wakes up, she would find out that the day before hadn't really happened. That her parents are still alive; her mother would be in the kitchen pouring fresh coffee into mismatched china cups, baking homemade bread; and her father's walking cane making its usual noise as he crosses with difficulty the distance between the door of his bedroom to the sofa in the living room.

She feels a wave of anguish burning on her chest, and a sob escapes. After the sob comes silent tears, that soon become anguished moans which she squashes on the pillow unwilling to show her despair to the two Americans who risked so much to keep her alive.

And that's how she falls asleep; wetting her pillow with the last tears she will cry for her old life, before facing the reality of a new one that she will start on the next day.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Tony and Tim are in the living room of the suite, trying to watch TV while they wait for the time to collect Gibbs at the airport. Well, Tony is trying to watch TV, flipping channels like crazy, while Tim is staring at the door leading to Anna's bedroom, completely oblivious to whatever is showing on the tube.

Tony glances at McGee and continue flipping the channels. Old movie. New movie. Crap movie. Cartoon. Animal Planet. Discovery. Crap movie. Old movie. Uhm, _Ferris Bueller's day off_. That's a classic.

He gazes at Tim again, and notices that even Ferris enthusiastic singing during the St Patrick's Day parade doesn't make him waver his gaze from her door.

He looks again at the TV. "Why don't you check on her?"

"Uhm?"

Tim moves his eyes from door and frowns as he sees Ferris singing and dancing in New York. Weren't they watching the news channel?

"It's been hours since she went in there. No peep from her side. Go check on her."

Tim folds his arms and sinks deeper on the comfortable sofa. "Nah, she's tired. Probably asleep. Let her rest."

Tony leans his head to the side, staring at the gorgeous women dancing with Ferris, and smiles a little as Ferris' father starts dancing with the music too.

"If I had a hot girl like that interested in me, sleeping just a couple of feet away from me, I wouldn't ever let her sleep alone. Especially after all she's been through during the last few days."

He turns his head and looks at Tim, who turns to look at him frowning. Both men have a staring match, and Tim sighs, turning to look again at the TV.

"I don't think she would appreciate me bugging her right now. She's been through a lot."

Tony stares at Tim for another minute, nods and stands up, walking towards Anna's door.

"What are you doing?"

Tony turns to look at McGee, at the same time that Ferris turns to his best friend and starts talking excitedly.

"If you are not checking on her, I will. Because I like the girl - not the same way you do, I'd like to add - and I would really hate if she is in pain or suffering or God knows what and I don't know it just because I was just too coward to simply ask her if she is okay."

"Tony!" moans Tim, as Tony walks to the door and tries to open the door.

Tim jumps from the sofa as he sees Tony turning the handle, and shuts up as he opens the door. Both men silently peek inside her room, and they find Anna sleeping deeply between the sheets, hugging the pillows, her long curly hair a stark contrast against the pillows. She is naked, sleeping belly down, her bronze back showing the marks of the bikini she had used during their day on the beach. There were tracks of tears on her face, and even in sleep, she was frowning, as if her dreams were haunted by nightmares.

"Oh man," Tony says softly.

Tim just stares at her. He looks at her tanned skin, her long hair and he gulps, as he feels himself reacting to the sleeping woman. He then feels shame washing over him as he realizes that he is one of the people responsible for literally turning her life upside down.

She sighs, and starts to turn in her sleep. Tony smiles; wanting to watch the show but McGee covers his eyes and silently forces him out of the room, giving her some privacy.

"Ah, McGee, you're a party popper."

"And you're a pervert. She's been through hell. Let her sleep."

The room phone starts to ring and Tony rushes to it. It's Gibbs. Tim hears only half heartedly as Tony starts talking with the Boss. Tim opens a gap on the door again, and watches Anna sleeping, staring at her hypnotized as she sighs again and lifts a hand over her head, her firm breasts going up and down with each breath she takes.

_Oh, man, I'm in trouble._

He closes the door at the same time Tony disconnects with Gibbs.

"Gibbs will be landing in thirty minutes; I'm going to pick him up. Will you be okay on your own with her?"

"Sure."

"Don't open the door to anyone, Probie."

"Yes, _mom_."

Tony grabs his spare gun, checks if it is loaded and gives it to Tim, who looks at the gun then at Tony.

"You never know."

Tim takes the gun and checks the safety, putting it then on his belt. Tony stares at Tim for a moment, shakes his head as if he's just given up to speak what's on his mind, open the door and leaves the suite. Tim locks the door as soon as Tony leaves, and leans his forehead against the door, taking deep breaths, trying to control his instinct to run back into her room and ravish her.

_Damnit!_

He slowly walks back to her room, closes the door and approaches her bed. He watches her sleeping, her breasts moving each time she inhaled and exhaled. He gulps as he feels himself reacting at her, even asleep. She feels his stare on her skin and slowly wakes up. She opens her eyes, finding him looking at her hungrily. His eyes go up to her face and find the same need he is feeling twisting in her eyes. He slowly sits down on the bed, as she sits down too. They stare silently at each other for a whole minute, which seems to last for a small eternity.

Finally, he lifts one of his hands, and softly molds one of her breasts in his palm. She moans at his touch, but doesn't take her eyes from his face. He leans towards her and, without closing his eyes, he touches her lips with his, at the same time, his hand massages the firm flesh in his palm. He leans back, and studies her face again.

His left hand moves up and grabs her by the back of her neck, his right hand goes around her waist and brings her forcefully against him, and he can feel her heartbeat hammering against his chest. He attacks her mouth, and she responds with the same hunger he attacks her. Her hands fight with the buttons of his shirt, and once the shirt is finally, forgotten on the floor of the room, her nails dig on his back as he leans her down to the bed.

Words weren't necessary after that.


	22. He refuses to step on the ball

**_Chapter 22: He refuses to step on the ball_**

**_Portuguese idiom: Pisar na bola_**  
**_literal translation: to step on the ball_**  
**_meaning: to disappoint someone._**

Two hours later, thanks to the huge lines to go through security in the airport and the rush hour in Miami, Gibbs arrives with Tony in the hotel.

He salutes McGee, who answers the door with a gun on his hand. Gibbs nods at his junior agent and looks around the room they booked. Apparently, McGee was watching the latest news on ZNN on mute when they knocked on the door.

"Hi Boss, I've ordered room service. They're bringing something for us soon."

Gibbs nods and searches the room, and McGee answers his unasked question. "She's on her room."

As soon as he finishes speaking, one of the doors of the suite opens, and out comes out a tanned beauty, her long brown hair falling in soft waves around her oval face, with high cheek bones and pouting lips. She glances from one man to the other, and when her gaze finally settles down on Gibbs, he is surprised with the intensity of her gaze, and the burning intelligence he sees in her brown eyes.

She is wearing black track pants and a dark blue jumper with a hood. Both pieces were obviously bought several sizes bigger than her small frame, but they did little to hide her voluptuous curves in strategic places.

"Hi," she says in a soft voice, and Gibbs immediately glances at Tony, as he expects him to be melting in puddle of goo on the floor before such a beautiful woman. He is surprised though to find that his senior agent is smiling at the girl, but not leering as he had expected. For some reason, Tony apparently is immune to her charms. But that only means…

Gibbs, being Gibbs, feels a twist on his gut and turns to McGee, and frowns as he sees the totally besotted look on his younger agent's face. As soon as the younger man feels Gibbs' stare at him, he wipes all emotion from his face and turns to stare at the boss. He gulps, but his gaze doesn't waver from Gibbs' eyes.

"Is something wrong?" she asks, and Tony rushes to her side, taking her by her arm and guiding her to the sofa.

"No, Anna, nothing is wrong. It just takes time for some people to get used to the Boss's muteness."

"He's not mute, I've spoken to him before, through the video link," Anna glances over her shoulder to the two men staring at each other.

"Ah, well. He's a functional mute. He only speaks when he really wants to," says Tony with a smile, as he guides Anna to sit down on the sofa and sits beside her.

"Something you want to tell me, McGee?" he steps up to McGee, staring down at the junior agent, who surprisingly doesn't back down. He grins mentally as he thinks of the green agent he met in Norfolk, and studies the serious green eyes staring back at him with resolution.

"Now is neither the time nor the place, Boss. We have more important things to deal with right now. We can talk about it later." He gulps, but doesn't back down.

Gibbs smirks and waves with his head, indicating that he should lead the way. McGee nods and walks to the sofa, sitting beside Anna on her other side. She looks up at Gibbs as he takes a chair and places it before her, and he studies her for a moment.

"Nice to finally meet you, Agent Gibbs. Tim and Tony spoke very highly of you."

Gibbs looks at one, then at the other agent, and then the Brazilian girl, no woman, right in front of him.

"DiNozzo was telling me some of the things you went through on the way here. I'm …" he glances at McGee, who is staring at him impassively, then back at Anna, "I'm sorry for your loss. Your parents shouldn't have died like that. We should have put them under protection as soon as we found you."

Anna's hand goes instinctively to her pendant, and touches the two rings hanging side by side with her small catholic saint.

"You had no way of knowing what was lying ahead. We were expecting trouble, and still we were caught unprepared for it."

Gibbs nods, opens his backpack and hands a laptop to McGee, who smiles as he takes it on his hands. He opens it and starts setting it up to work.

"Let's start from the beginning. Tell me exactly what did you see on the night of November 14th."


End file.
